Florida’s healthcare real estate expansion isn’t limited to Miami, Tampa, Orlando and the state’s other major metropolitan centers.

As residential development pushes farther into surrounding communities, healthcare providers are following their patients—and that is creating opportunities for smaller medical office projects in markets that may previously have supported relatively limited healthcare infrastructure.

UF Health‘s search for a new primary care location in Newberry offers a recent example.

The University of Florida Office of Real Estate sought proposals for a build-to-suit medical office location of approximately 10,000 to 15,000 usable square feet for UF Health Primary Care. The planned facility would accommodate clinical and administrative operations, including patient-care pods, examination rooms, provider offices, nursing areas, laboratory space and reception and waiting areas.

UF Health is targeting occupancy during the third quarter of 2027 and indicated a preference for an initial 10-year lease with two additional five-year renewal options.

While relatively modest compared with a hospital or major outpatient campus, projects like this can be significant from a healthcare real estate perspective.

They demonstrate how providers can expand into growing communities without committing to large institutional healthcare developments.

Primary care is often one of the first pieces of healthcare infrastructure to follow residential growth. As communities add households, healthcare demand eventually supports additional specialists, diagnostic services, physical therapy, urgent care and other outpatient services.

That can create a ripple effect for commercial real estate.

A primary care practice may require only a fraction of the space of a traditional hospital, but its location still needs to meet specialized healthcare requirements. Visibility, convenient access and parking become critical, while the building itself must accommodate patient circulation, exam rooms, clinical utilities and other medical functions.

Those requirements can create opportunities for developers and property owners capable of delivering appropriately designed smaller facilities.

Longer lease commitments can add to the appeal. Healthcare providers investing substantial amounts in specialized space generally need enough lease term to justify those improvements. For owners, a well-established healthcare tenant can therefore provide a different leasing profile than many conventional office users.

The broader opportunity may be particularly notable in Florida’s expanding suburban and exurban communities.

Population growth doesn’t immediately justify construction of a hospital. But residents still need physicians. Smaller medical office buildings can help bridge that gap by allowing health systems and physician groups to establish a presence closer to emerging patient populations.

As those communities mature, additional healthcare services can follow.

For Florida healthcare real estate, that means some of the state’s next opportunities may be measured not in hundreds of thousands of square feet, but in 10,000, 15,000- and 25,000-square-foot facilities strategically positioned near growing residential areas.

For developers, investors and brokers, watching where Florida is adding rooftops may provide an early indication of where the next wave of medical office demand is likely to emerge.