Downtown, Tampa Needs A ‘Medical District,’ Hospital CEO Says

Tampa General Hospital is expanding its reach by strengthening its partnership with the University of South Florida and launching a new line of urgent care clinics.

During a USF board of trustees meeting Thursday, the hospital’s CEO, John Couris, said he wants to help create a “medical district” in and around downtown Tampa with the help of USF Health and its Morsani College of Medicine.

In addition to Tampa General committing to a $20 million lease of 25,000 square feet of space inside the medical school’s new building downtown, Couris and USF medical school dean Dr. Charles Lockwood want to create a more seamless process for patients being treated by USF or Tampa General physicians.

The new joint venture would create a “management services organization” that would streamline services, from medical records to scheduling patients between appointments at USF, Tampa General and private practice physicians with privileges at both places.

“Fifty percent of our admissions come from private practice partners,” Couris said. “With this venture, we’ll be able to provide administrative services to those physicians and create a more integrated system for patients.”

The goal is to create one health care system that can be expanded in the future to include others, like Sarasota Memorial Hospital or health care offices in Lakeland, Couris said. He described the venture as based on “inclusiveness.”

“The goal isn’t to make the hospital bigger,” he said. “It’s to collaborate with more doctors and hospitals to improve quality and lower costs for patients. We don’t have to employ everybody for that to happen, but there needs to be a nucleus.”

For example, Couris said that even though Tampa General and USF Health partner in many ways already, they each operate their own appointment scheduling programs, which slows down the process for patients. This new venture would change that.

Couris and Lockwood will appear again before USF’s trustees in August to seek final approval.

As for the medical district, Couris said connecting the dots between health care specialties and partners across the region would help draw more doctors and researchers to Tampa Bay.

“Most great cities have medical districts, which are concentrations of health services and research, which attract great scientists,” he said. As examples, he cited Houston, Dallas and Boston — cities with academic and private partnerships to create research hubs and health care options for patients.

Tampa General’s presence in the new medical schooling building — which, when completed, will include an urgent care clinic, cardiovascular clinical space and other medical offices — is a piece of that.

The hospital is also opening a 200-bed acute care rehabilitation center near its campus, across the street from the Oxford Exchange. It would connect to a future freestanding emergency department in Tampa, the University of Tampa’s nursing program, the new USF medical school, and USF’s downtown medical training and simulation facility, known as CAMLS.

“We have all these pieces coming together that are beginning to take shape,” Couris said. “That concentration will only bring more medical talent to Tampa Bay.”

In addition, Tampa General announced Thursday that it is joining with Fast Track Urgent Care to operate 10 urgent care clinics in Tampa Bay, including two in Pinellas County. The 50-50 partnership marks the first time Tampa General has offered freestanding clinical care in Pinellas.

Fast Track operates eight clinics in the region, including in Seminole and St. Petersburg. Tampa General operates two urgent care clinics in Hillsborough County, but the new partnership will fold them all into one network known as “TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track.”

Couris said he hopes to expand to 15 to 20 centers in the next three-to-five years.

“I like the idea of partnering with someone who is already in this line of work and doing a great job,” he said. “We don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”

Fast Track was the first organization in the Tampa Bay area to be certified by the Urgent Care Association of America. Dr. Daron G. Diecidue, the founder and CEO of Fast Track Urgent Care, will continue to lead the business.

Overall, Tampa General’s health system includes 15 medical group locations, 14 imaging centers in partnership with Tower Radiology, the Brandon Healthplex, and the TGH Advanced Organ Disease and Transplantation Institute at Lee Health in Fort Myers.

Couris said the hospital also plans to build a stronger presence in neighboring Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Manatee counties.

 

Source: Tampa Bay Times

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Vote Coming On Jackson South Medical Center Expansion

Marcus & Millichap Senior Managing Director Douglas K. Mandel , along with First Vice President Benjamin H. Silver, Associate Adam Klein and Debt Financing, Senior Director Eric Fixler, negotiated the sale of Highland Park Office Center, a ‘Class A’ office building in Miami’s Health District.

Douglas K. Mandel

Mandel

TOPMED MIAMI HEALTH DISTRICT LLC purchased the 42,489-square-foot asset from HIGHLAND PARK CENTER LP, an entity managed by Key International for $13,875,000. Key International acquired the property for $7.850 million in 2014. The deal closed May 24.

“The asset was priced far below replacement costs and is situated in one of Miami Dade’s most dynamic and fastest growing markets with significant mixed-use and apartment developments taking place around the property,” commented Mandel.

Benjamin Silver

Silver

The asset is one of the newest delivered office properties in the market and in proximity to the health district, one of Miami Dade’s fastest growing and highest demand office and medical office locations.

The two most significant challenges with the deal were that the primary tenant, a for-profit school, occupied over 60% of the GLA.  Secondly, a third of the Property’s total income was derived from two billboards, which created a significant risk as a tremendous amount of the value of the deal hinged on the long term potential of that income.

“The deal worked for both sides as former ownership capitalized on accessing equity by selling a stabilized asset,” explained Silver.  “The new ownership is now poised to take advantage of a longer term hold by capitalizing on rental growth and market appreciation in the future as well as the ability to rebrand the asset and acquire an asset below replacement cost.”

Located at 1011 Northwest Sunnybrook Road, the building’s site is strategically situated across from the University of Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital campus, two blocks from the Miami-Dade Court House and fronts State Road 836 (Dolphin Expressway), the main artery between Miami International Airport and Miami Beach.

The 2011-built building, which features structured parking, had gone through a bankruptcy and was acquired mostly vacant aside from significant wallscape income.  Key International acquired the asset and immediately filled most of the space with Atlantis University, a for-profit school, which favored the property due to the highly visible nature of the signage rights and accessibility throughout the county for its student body.  Despite being an ideal medical location, the school lease fell into the owners’ laps with the additional ability to build out the space in a modern, highly-functional way, which made financial sense. The remaining tenants were a mix of small professional and medical tenancy.

 

Source: CRE-sources

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Key International Sells Miami Health District Building For $320 PSF

TopMed Realty, a private health care real estate investment firm, paid $13.9 million for an office building in Miami’s Health District.

Key International, along with its partner on the project, 13th Floor Investments, sold Highland Park Center, a Class A, 43,000-square-foot building at 1011 Sunnybrook Road for more than $320 per foot.

The 11-story building, which was completed in 2011, sold fully leased to tenants that include Atlantis University and Night and Day Pediatrics. Property records show Key International and 13th Floor purchased the property as an REO from BankUnited for $7.85 million in 2014. It includes a garage.

Douglas Mandel and Benjamin Silver of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, according to a release.

TopMed Realty, led by Roni Soffer, is based in Hallandale Beach.

The property is across the street from University of Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital campus.

 

Source: The Real Deal

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Cleveland Clinic Gets Unanimous Nod To Negotiate For VGTI Building In Port St. Lucie

The Cleveland Clinic, which has quickly established a presence across the Treasure Coast, already wants to expand that presence by taking over the former Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute of Florida facility and establishing a cancer and neuroscience research center here.

A Miami-based medical marijuana-research company, JBS Renovations, also wants to acquire the former VGTI property, now called the Florida Center for Bio-Sciences. Unlike Cleveland Clinic, however, it is offering cash — $14.5 million — for the 8-acre campus and 107,000 square-foot building.

The Port St. Lucie City Council Tuesday voted 5-0 to authorize City Manager Russ Blackburn to enter negotiations with Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute, which would allow the city to continue its goal of transforming the Tradition area into a biotech research corridor.

Blackburn will bring a draft agreement to the City Council in 60 days.

“I’m looking forward for a great partnership,” City Councilwoman Stephanie Morgan said. “I can’t wait to see the name change on the building.”

An agreement to take over the city-owned research building would reduce its operating expenses by $1.5 million a year, according to the city.

Mayor Greg Oravec said Cleveland Clinic’s reputation for being a “world-class brand” in medical research would help the city

“I truly believe in my heart that this will be for the better of healthcare in Port St. Lucie, for the better of biotechnology in the state and also the world,” Oravec said.

Cleveland Clinic’s proposal includes creating a translational vaccine and immunotherapy institute that would become the focal point for development of treatments in areas such as cancer, neuroscience, infectious disease and allergies, according to a city news release.

An unnamed international biotech company would share the building with Cleveland Clinic, according to the news release.

Cleveland Clinic proposes creating 100 jobs over the next five years.

The hospital’s proposal, however, does not include payments to the city for the building.The unnamed biotech company would assume full responsibility for building maintenance, operating expenses and payment of special assessments and community-development fees.

Cleveland Clinic would be responsible for all costs associated with the recruitment and employment of research scientists, according to the city.

In January, Cleveland Clinic completed a $500 million takeover of Martin Health System and its three hospitals, and a $250 million takeover of Indian River Medical Center.

Acquisition of the ex-VGTI property would expand its footprint in the Tradition Center for Innovation, joining Cleveland Clinic Tradition Hospital.

After Cleveland Clinic acquired Martin Health System, its officials began requesting information about operation and maintenance cost of the former VGTI campus and made several site visits, a city spokeswoman said Monday afternoon.

Florida International University is in the process of acquiring the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies — next to the VGTI site — for a “specialized-purpose” research center.

“With Cleveland Clinic’s proposal, the city of Port St. Lucie would fulfill its long-held vision for this facility, to add a new pillar to our economy of high-end research,” City Manager Russ Blackburn said in a statement.

“Becoming an established home for Cleveland Clinic’s international health-care brand and the world-renowned Lerner Research Institute would be game-changing for Port St. Lucie and our jobs corridor,” he said.

If Cleveland Clinic successfully acquires the property, it would put an end to a nine-year financial struggle for Port St. Lucie. The city borrowed $64 million in 2010 to build and outfit the 107,000 square-foot facility to lure the biotech company.

VGTI Florida opened in 2013 and was required to repay the money — with interest —over 30 years. However, it began losing funding and closed in October 2015.

When VGTI stopped making loan payments in 2015, the city assumed the financial responsibility. The city still owesabout $53.7 million, a city spokeswoman said.

 

Source: TC Palm

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