Wellington Regional Medical Center Acquires Additional 35 Acres For Future Medical Campus

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Wellington Regional Medical Center has acquired 35 additional acres in Westlake from Minto Communities for the future development of a medical campus. The transaction closed November 25. Terms were not disclosed.

The land is adjacent to a five-acre parcel on which the hospital built a freestanding emergency medical facility that opened to patients in April 2019. The ER at Westlake, located at 16750 Persimmon Boulevard, provides emergency medical care 24-hours a day, seven days a week with eight exam rooms, three rapid medical exam bays, one triage room, on-site lab services and on-site radiological services.

Wellington Regional’s parent company, Universal Health Services (UHS), had an option to acquire the 35 acres when it closed on the land for the emergency room facility early in 2018.

“Due to the early success of the ER at Westlake, we decided to exercise our option and move forward with purchasing the additional land,” said Pam Tahan, CEO, Wellington Regional Medical Center. “The City of Westlake is growing faster than expected and we want to be prepared to meet Westlake’s and the surrounding community’s health care needs as more people move into the area.”

Wellington Regional said it’s too early to determine how the land will be developed, but city zoning rules allow for medical-related uses such as a pharmacy, diagnostic testing, urgent care facility and an acute care hospital.

“We commend Wellington Regional for having the vision to start planning now to meet the future demand for medical services in this part of Palm Beach County,” said John Carter, vice president of Minto Communities USA. “At the rate Westlake is growing, there will be a big need for robust and quality health care services in the area sooner rather than later.”

Minto has sold over 420 single-family homes since opening Westlake in October 2017, beating expectations. Recently, the master-developer/builder started selling Phase 2 of its second neighborhood, The Meadows, priced from the low $300s. Minto’s first neighborhood, The Hammocks, is near sell out. That sales velocity has propelled the City of Westlake to become the fastest growing city in Florida according to U.S. Census figures.

The 3,800-acre Westlake community is approved for 4,500 homes and more than 2-million square feet of commercial space.

In June 2019, Minto opened the first phase of its $15 million amenities center. The Westlake Adventure Park includes a resort-style lagoon pool with water slide, a kids’ interactive splash pad, and poolside concessions. An expansive recreational lawn features a covered concert pavilion and grassy area for events, along with shade pavilions, grills and picnic area, BMX pump park, playground and bocce ball courts. Phase 2 will include basketball courts and adult lap pool.

Commercial development in Westlake is also well under way. Most recently, the City approved a 91-acre private college preparatory school and sports academy with the first phase of construction set to begin in January of 2020. Adjacent to the school, Christ Fellowship Church has submitted plans to build a new 13-acre campus as it grows its ministry throughout Palm Beach County. FPL is finishing up construction on a new 400-acre solar energy center, while Palm Beach County will soon open a new fire station and district headquarters just off Seminole Pratt Whitney Road. A new 7-11 gas station and convenience store is set to start construction in 2020.

Westlake is located at 16610 Town Center Parkway North in the City of Westlake, on Seminole Pratt Whitney Road between Southern Blvd. and Northlake Blvd.

 

What A Future Medical Waiting Room Will Look Like

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With healthcare spending forecast to grow by $2 trillion within the next 10 years, transformational technology coupled with a busy younger generation and aging population means that healthcare real estate spaces will undergo a dramatic makeover.

“Your doctor’s office, for example, may soon resemble your neighborhood bookstore or coffee shop instead go your typical “doc in a box” office. Spaces will be more dynamic mainly because of technology,” says David Wilson, Vice President of Real Estate Development, Ryan Companies, US, Inc.

Overall, there will be a lot more open spaces, more windows, less closed doors, more charging stations, tablets and kiosk registrations, Wilson tells GlobeSt.com. The physician’s waiting room will now help keep the patient calm and informed about the latest in healthcare news, and boost the patient’s sense of well-being.

“Waiting rooms and reception areas will face heightened traffic and will respond by creating a more customer-friendly experience. Competition over these new patients will naturally increase as well and so amenities like technology-friendly waiting room furniture, and a “Starbucks-type” look will become more and more important,” says Wilson. “Patients will be able to settle down at a table and access their electronic medical forms or peruse the latest research on wellness and medications.”

Some medical practices will also start offering 30-minute sessions focused on stress management techniques, yoga, acid reflux, youth sports injuries, etc. All sessions will be led by skilled in-house medical professionals.

“Consumer expectations are constantly changing and healthcare, as well as its real estate spaces, will have to change to fulfill the needs of the Gen X, Gen Y and millennial populations,” says Wilson. “Companies such as CVS and Kaiser Permanente have developed health hubs where both convenience and care intersect for the overall care of the patient. If we think healthcare is convenient now, just wait a few more years and it’ll be even more convenient and at your fingertips. Everyone is so busy now and has no time for long office waits. Convenience will be a bigger factor than it even is now.”

 

Source: GlobeSt.

Q3 Medical Office Building Sales Were $2.2 Billion

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After a slow start to the year, medical office building (MOB) sales have picked up in the second and third quarters (Q2 and Q3), providing a strong possibility that the final 2019 volume will top $10 billion for the fifth straight year.

According to two data firms that separately compile their own MOB sales statistics – Arnold, Md.-based Revista and New York-based Real Capital Analytics (RCA) – transaction volume in Q3 topped $2 billion. Both firms’ data shows that year-to-date (YTD) MOB sales through Q3 topped $7.1 billion.

RCA’s data had Q3 MOB sales at $2.35 billion, for a YTD total of $7.28 billion. The firm’s data also indicates that the average capitalization (cap) rate, or the expected first-year yield, in Q3 was 6.7 percent – up from 6.3 percent in Q2 – and the average price per square foot (PSF) of $316, which was down from $326 a quarter earlier.

Revista, which uses different criteria for compiling its MOB sales data than RCA, indicates that Q3 sales totaled $2.2 billion, bringing the YTD total to $7.1 billion. Revista’s data shows that the overall average cap rate for MOB sales was about 6.6 percent in Q3, with the average cap rate for MOB portfolio sales coming in at 6.2 percent and single assets at 6.8 percent. Revista data puts the average PSF for all MOB sales at $323.

Interestingly, Revista data shows that there is still a premium to be paid for on-campus MOBs, which sold for an average of $339 PSF; on the other hand, off-campus facilities had an average PSF of $321.

Revista’s data also indicates the highest quality properties, those in the top 25 percent, sold for average cap rates of 5.8 percent and the absolute highest quality properties selling for cap rates averaging 4.4 percent.

While the YTD MOB sales volume stood at more than $7 billion at the end of Q3, there is a good chance that Q4 will see a strong uptick in volume. This news come by way of a variety of industry professionals as well as 2019’s biggest buyer by far, Toledo, Ohio-based Welltower Inc. (NYSE: WELL).

As HREI reported on Nov. 13, Welltower, which had made MOB investments topping $2 billion YTD through the end of Q3, last week announced that in recent weeks it had entered into five separate definitive agreements to acquire MOBs for a combined total of $1.67 billion.

Welltower’s pending acquisitions, for which it has entered definitive agreements, includes a $787 million purchase of 29 “Class A” MOBs from Milwaukee-based Hammes Partners. In addition, the REIT announced that it is “under contract” to make four other, separate MOB transactions totaling $885 million.

Those purchases, if they close as predicted by the end of year, would bring Welltower’s total 2019 MOB acquisitions to more than $3.5 billion.

Welltower’s deals alone, should they indeed close by the end of the year, would bring the MOB sector’s overall volume for the year, when added to the $7 billion-plus recorded in the first three quarters, to nearly $9 billion and provide a virtual lock that 2019’s volume will exceed $10 billion once again.

 

Source: HREI