New Clermont Project With Restaurants, Shops, Medical/Office Space In The Works In Florida

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A 16-building, mixed-use project with roughly 100,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and medical/office space is in the works for a fast-growing Lake County corridor.

Winter Garden-based Schmid Construction Inc. is the applicant and developer behind the Cross Ridge Exchange project, to rise on 11.3 acres along U.S. Highway 27 in Clermont.

Schmid Construction Principal and CEO John Schmid confirmed to Orlando Business Journal that the firm has the land under contract from Lake Wales-based Lost Lake Reserve LC and will be the general contractor for the $14 million project.

Cross Ridge Exchange will rise nestled between an existing BJ’s Wholesale Club and Walmart Supercenter.

“That’s really the strength of the project,” Schmid said, referring to the location.

The development will feature at least 50,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space across nine buildings closest to U.S. 27, in addition to at least 39,000 square feet of medical/office space across eight buildings toward the property’s back end, along Cross Ridge Road.

Building sizes are not yet final, and Schmid said they are pursuing permission for up to 115,000 square feet to have some buffer if the project needs to be larger.

Cross Ridge Exchange was given approval from Clermont’s planning and zoning commission earlier this month and next will go before its city council for its conditional-use permit.

Schmid said site work may start within the next few months and the goal is for vertical construction to begin in the first quarter of next year, with an anticipated delivery by the end of 2023.

Schmid Construction will serve as general contractor, and subcontractor opportunities will be available. Opportunities for site work may be put out to bid within the next few months and construction opportunities should be put out to bid early next year.

Orlando-based First Capital Property Group is handling leasing for the development, with senior sales and leasing associate Trey Gravenstein telling OBJ it has attracted good activity and two letters of intent so far after going live July 27.

 

Source: OBJ

CVS Plans To Get Into Primary Care By The End of 2022

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CVS just said that it plans to acquire or take a stake in a primary-care company by the end of the year, as competition heats up with Amazon and Walgreens.

 “The company wants to team up with a provider that has a strong management team and tech background and the ability to grow quickly,” said CEO Karen Lynch on the company’s second-quarter earnings call

CVS, best known for its many drugstores, has touchpoints across the health-care industry. It has acquired insurer Aetna and pharmacy benefits manager Caremark. Customers can get vaccines or urgent care at MinuteClinic outposts inside of its stores. And the company keeps adding more health services to those locations, too — it recently introduced therapy for mental health at some stores.

CVS doesn’t yet have doctor offices where patients can go for an annual checkup or appointments with a physician or nurse practitioner, though.

“CVS wants to change that by buying or partnering with a company.” said Lynch at an investor day last year.

At the time, Dr. Alan Lotvin, executive vice president of CVS Health and president of CVS Caremark, said he envisioned CVS standing out in primary care. The company wants to offer longer hours at its doctor offices so people can visit as early as 6 a.m., as late as 9 p.m., or on the weekends. It also wants to utilize simple, streamlined tech, so customers don’t have to fill out piles of paperwork.

Other health-care players have already made moves in the space. Rival Walgreens Boots Alliance is opening hundreds of doctor offices in partnership with VillageMD and became the majority owner of the company. Walmart has a small, but growing number of clinics where people can visit a doctor, dentist or therapist for a low price.

Amazon ratcheted up pressure by announcing last month that it would acquire primary-care provider One Medical for about $3.9 billion. The boutique health-care company has 188 medical offices across 25 markets, according to its latest quarterly results.

“CVS has a competitive edge with the size of its business,” Lynch said. “Nearly 4.8 million customers interact with the company each day at CVS locations. MinuteClinic visits increased 12% in the second quarter. CVS can build from the strong foundation that we already have.”

 

Source: CNBC

Geographic Trends Emerge For Private Equity Firms Acquiring Physician Offices

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The Northeast, Florida and Arizona are the nation’s hotspots for private equity (PE) firms to acquire physician practices across six specialties.

A new study examined geographic trends of private equity acquisitions of physician offices specializing in dermatology, gastroenterology, ophthalmology, obstetrics/gynecology (OB/GYN), orthopedics, and urology. Among those, less than 10% of physicians worked in PE-acquired practices, as of 2019, based on figures from the IQVIA OneKey database, compiled with the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile and other data.

Health care industry analysts have been examining effects, good and bad, of PE investments in physician practices. The study did not attach financial values to PE transactions and did not examine consequences for patient care, but it did refer to potential price hikes if market competition dries up.

“Because some PE acquisitions consolidate physician practices into larger organizations, geographic concentration of PE penetration may be associated with reduced physician competition, which could lead to increased prices,” the study said. “If PE acquisitions induce practice consolidation among remaining independent practices with financial pressures, this spillover effect may further hinder competition, underscoring the importance of monitoring practice consolidation and the ownership and regulatory environment of acquisitions.”

The research letter, “Geographic Variation in Private Equity Penetration Across Select Office-Based Physician Specialties in the U.S.,” was published earlier this year in JAMA Health Forum.

How Many And Where

The study found in 2019, there were 97,094 physicians in the six specialties and 4,738, or 4.9%, worked in PE-acquired practices, the study said. PE penetration was:

• 7.5% for dermatology, or 851 of 11,324 physicians
• 7.4% for gastroenterology, or 845 of 11,484 physicians
• 6.5% for urology, or 492 of 7,609 physicians
• 5.1% for ophthalmology, or 741 of 14,493 physicians
• 4.7% for OB/GYN, or 1,325 of 28,493 physicians
• 1.9% for orthopedics, or 460 of 23,891 physicians

Based on state and hospital referral region data, PE penetration was greatest in the Northeast at 6.8%, or 1,270 of 18,708 physicians, and lowest in the Midwest at 3.8%, or 638 of 16,613 physicians. PE penetration was highest in:

• Washington D.C., 18.2 %, or 188 of 1,031 physicians
• Arizona, 17.5%, or 326 of 1,866 physicians
• New Jersey, 13.6%, or 464 of 3,49 physicians
• Maryland, 13.1%, or 195 of 1,488 physicians
• Connecticut, 12.6%, or 212 of 1,688 physicians
• Florida, 10.8%, or 741 of 6,852 physicians

 

Source: Medical Economics