Miami-Based Vitalis CEO On Medical Office Growth In Region, State
Jacksonville is an excellent target area for growth in the health care real estate sector, said the CEO of a firm specializing in medical office space that has just entered the market.
St. Johns Vein Center at 8767 Perimeter Park Blvd. (PHOTO CREDIT: VITALIS)
Miami-based real estate investment firm Vitalis bought the 10,647-square-foot St. John’s Interventional and Vascular Institute last month for $3.8 million. Located at 8767 Perimeter Park Blvd. near Tinseltown, the property is the home of St. Johns Vein Center, a vascular catheterization laboratory that is one of the few vascular testing facility in the region.
“Jacksonville’s positive demographic trends for health care and demand led to the deal — and that more might be on the way,” Vitalis founder and Managing Director Elliot LaBreche told the Business Journal. “It’s a higher acuity use, those tenants tend to stay and reinvest in their space. They don’t move around a ton.”
Vitalis, which has properties in 12 states, has done a variety of deals in the health-care-focused real estate space, including providing bridge loans to developers, sale-leasebacks and tenant representation.
Growth in the sector is driven by an aging population and changes in the way health care is provided, with services like surgery, imaging, gynecology or orthopedic care taking place outside of hospitals.
“You have insurance companies pushing health systems to deliver care in a more cost-effective way, and that’s not in a hospital. It’s really in these outpatient facilities,” LaBreche said. “There are a lot of growth drivers for these facilities to do really well.”
In the wake of the vein center acquisition, LaBreche said Vitalis has a letter of intent signed for another Jacksonville property, a surgery center.
“We’re just as interested in growing in the Northeast part of Florida because deals are a little more attractive from a buyer’s standpoint, but the fundamental drivers for healthcare are there,” LaBreche said.
Pivotal Healthcare Partners acquired St. Johns Vein Center in February. Given the property’s central location, size, and cutting-edge catheterization lab, Pivotal Healthcare Partners’ plans to designate St. Johns Vein Center as the hub all affiliated practices will refer their higher-acuity catheterization lab procedures toward, a press release said.
Source: JBJ
