Healthcare Construction Boom In North Texas: 79% Of New Dallas-Fort Worth Hospitals Landed In Denton And Collin Counties

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With a population of 7 million-plus, including aging baby boomers and young families moving in daily, North Texas is seeing unabated healthcare construction and investment activity, including seven new hospitals topping 800K SF in just the last year.

Medical facilities in the North Dallas suburbs and facilities centered around outpatient services remain the most prized commodities as the Metroplex tries to meet the area’s growing healthcare needs.

“In particular what is going on right now, in addition to the remarkable growth pattern, I think there is a lot of competition among healthcare providers,” Turner Construction Co. Director Steve Whitcraft said.

Whitcraft will be speaking on this topic at Bisnow’s The Future of Dallas Healthcare Real Estate conference Sept. 19.

“You have very strong providers in this market that are all very capable, differentiating themselves to best compete for those family services and also trying to get further out into the community. I think you are going to see more specialty facilities like heart and cancer centers and more satellite-type facilities with unique strengths to growing local neighborhoods,” Whitcraft said.

It is the growing North Dallas suburbs in particular where providers are setting up clinics and hospitals at a healthy pace.

“As the population continues to grow in the area of Collin County — it reached a population of a million this year  — healthcare facilities are expanding to the Planos, the Friscos, the Prospers and the Denton areas where we are seeing a lot of this growth,” McCarthy Building Cos. Vice President of Operations for the Dallas Business Unit Nate Kowallis said.

In fact, counties north of Dallas dominate CoStar’s list of healthcare projects and hospitals under construction.

“Since 2018, the region has added seven hospitals totaling 804K SF of new space,” CoStar Group’s Paul Hendershot said. “Seventy-nine percent is found in Collin and Denton counties, reflecting the high levels of growth in the northern suburbs.”

Healthcare projects under construction in the North Dallas suburbs include Texas Health Hospital Frisco, a collaboration between Texas Health Resources and UT Southwestern Medical Center; Cook Children’s Medical Center in Prosper, Denton County; and a new patient care tower for Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Allen in Collin County, according to CoStar data.

Dallas-based pediatric hospital Children’s Health acquired a 72-acre parcel at U.S. Highway 380 and the Dallas North Tollway in Prosper earlier this year to construct a medical campus to serve children in the North Dallas suburbs.

Midlothian, a growing South Dallas suburb, has two medical facilities under construction, including Methodist Health System, a 190K SF full-service acute care hospital, CoStar data shows.

Dallas County also remains in play with the McCarthy | Crowther joint venture constructing The Parkland Outpatient Clinic 2 building, a ground-up, six-story clinic on the Parkland Health & Hospital System’s Dallas campus. The HKS-designed project will host a 540K SF breast cancer clinic.

Outpatient Care Maintains A Healthy Pulse

In DFW Despite some of those large projects underway, DFW healthcare investment and construction activity is focused less on larger hospital settings and more on smaller footprints designed to reach residents in DFW submarkets.

“Health systems and providers are increasingly focused on the delivery of care in lower-cost outpatient settings, and convenience for the consumer is of critical importance,” JLL’s Healthcare Capital Markets Group Managing Director Brian Bacharach said. “As DFW continues to expand, there will be increasing demand for outpatient facilities located within the growing communities.”

Even in the investment side of the space, outpatient services remains a primary focus of investors.

“The majority of third-party investment activity has been outpatient-focused, but there is virtually no speculative development in the space,” Bacharach said.

McCarthy’s Kowallis said he is seeing more construction activity in healthcare today focused on smaller facilities outside of major hospitals.

“There’s been a little bit of [construction] growth year over year, but mostly that has been with the medical office buildings, the clinics and the special care facilities,” Kowallis said. “That’s the big trend that we’ve seen, the shift from hospitals to more clinical or outpatient facilities.”

 

Source: Bisnow

Fort Worth’s Near Southside Primed To Become Innovative Economic Force

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Earlier this year, Fort Worth leaders had plans for a first-of-its-kind medical innovation district south of downtown, an ambitious undertaking that could attract medical-related enterprises to the city and potentially could become an innovation hub.

A new JLL report shows just how much Near Southside has grown over the years—with the potential to become a major medical hub. The city’s plan would connect existing medical institutions and organizations with startups and business incubators with hopes to attract thousands of additional healthcare and technology-related jobs to the area, according to JLL’s report.

Near Southside is already home to major healthcare centers such as Cook Children’s Healthcare System, Texas Health Harris Methodist, Baylor Scott & White, and Medical City Fort Worth.

The 1,400-acre area known as the Medical Innovation District called Near Southside (PHOTO CREDIT: Fort Worth Economic Development Department)

In the report, JLL examines the history and future of the 1,400-acre area called Near Southside. JLL refers to the Fort Worth district as “an emerging mixed-use district” where some of the city’s newest retail, office, and multifamily housing projects are located. The area has roughly 30,000 people employed within its boundaries, making it the second largest employment center in Tarrant County outside of downtown Fort Worth.

INTERACTIVE MAP: JLL map shows the growth from 2007 to 2019 in the Near Southside

The Near Southside area was first developed in the early 1900s in the area north of the Fairmont residential neighborhood. A nonprofit, member-funded organization called Near Southside Inc. was formed in 1995 to look after the area’s development. The nonprofit also manages Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District No. 4, which was created in 1997 to help with revitalization efforts.

In the ensuing years, Near Southside has seen major economic growth. The district’s taxable value was $229.7 million in 1997 and $729.3 million in 2017, according to JLL. Near Southside is projected to have increased its base value by just over 350 percent to over $1 billion by fiscal year 2024.

Improved Infrastructure And Housing Growth

Infrastructure in the area has been improved with the 2014 retrofit of West Rosedale Street from a six-lane road to a four-lane street with bike lanes, on-street parking, and pedestrian improvements. An $8.5 million reconstruction of South Main Street also happened last year.

The Hemphill-Lamar Connector, a $53 million tunnel under Interstate 30 with rail lines providing another downtown route, is scheduled to open in 2020.

Housing in the area has also seen growth in recent years with roughly 2,000 multifamily units having been built since 2000 and three more currently under construction. On top of this, an additional 300 units have been proposed, including a 10-story mixed-use project.

A proposed 2.1-mile extension of TEXRail southwest would add a new station to serve the major hospitals in Near Southside. Those hospitals provide a major economic and employment base for the area, according to JLL.

According to a 2014 study by the University of North Texas, the healthcare facilities in Near Southside have an annual economic impact of $4.2 billion for the city of Fort Worth and $5.5 billion throughout Tarrant County.

Robert Sturns, the economic development director for the city of Fort Worth, told Dallas Innovates earlier this year that the hope is Near Southside would “become the most livable medical district in the U.S.”

Creating a medical innovation district in Near Southside was a key finding from the Economic Development Plan accepted by the City Council at the end of 2017. The plan’s goal is to compete successfully on the national and international stage for “creative, high-growth businesses and the talented individuals who fuel them.”

The University of Texas at Arlington’s Center for Transportation, Equity, Decisions and Dollars was contracted to study the district’s needs and strengths, and Schaefer Advertising is expected to develop messaging and a brand for Near Southside Inc.

Near Southside has been a focus of innovative thinking in placemaking for years. The Brookings Institute’s global urbanization specialist Bruce Katz noted in 2016 that the area was “one of the most eclectic micro-economies I’ve ever encountered,” featuring everything from cultural and fine arts to hospitals and beer and whiskey manufacturing.

 

Source: Dallas Innovates

107K SF Medical Office Building Coming To Medical City Campus That Housed Forest Park Medical Center

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Healthcare Trust of America is planning a $55M-plus building on a medical campus off U.S. Highway 75 in Dallas that used to house the Forest Park Medical Center.

The campus, which is now home to Medical City Heart Hospital and Spine Campus, used to house the Forest Park Medical Center flagship location. Forest Park was a physician-owned hospital that fell under the weight of bankruptcy and a federal investigation into an alleged physician kickback scheme.

Healthcare Trust of America out of Arizona said it will build another 107K SF of leasable space on the campus with construction set to launch in the fourth quarter.  The firm estimates it will cost roughly $55M to $60M to develop the Class-A building and a new parking garage.

HTA already owns two medical office buildings on the same campus and plans to acquire another 6 acres nearby for development.  HTA expects the project to have lease commitments of at least 73% prior to the start of construction, which begins this year and ends in 2021.

 

Source: Bisnow