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Delray Marketplace Could Get Medical Office Building Despite Cap On Commercial Space — How Is That Possible?

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It’s the second time in less than a month that the planning commission accommodated a builder whose project was jeopardized by rules designed to limit development in the Ag Reserve.

The County Planning Commission voted 7-6 earlier this month to initiate a change in the county’s growth plan to increase the commercial cap in the Agricultural Reserve — a move is designed to allow a 13,000-square-foot, medical office building on a narrow, two-acre lot at Delray Marketplace.

This marked the second time in less than a month that the planning commission accommodated a builder whose project was jeopardized by rules designed to limit development in the Ag Reserve. In early January, the commission voted to initiate a change to the growth plan that will consider self-storage facilities as noncommercial and, therefore, exempt self-storage from the commercial cap.

“How many more times are we going to increase the cap or make exceptions?” Planning Commissioner Dagmar Brahs asked her colleagues.

She “implored” them to vote against the project at Delray Marketplace.

“At least wait until Atlantic Avenue is widened from State Road 7 to Lyons Road,” Brahs said.

“Traffic congestion now is ridiculous,” Commissioner Spencer Siegel said. “However, approving the project was a way to force county commissioners to decide whether an in-depth review of Ag Reserve rules should be conducted.”

The planning commission vote to “initiate” the change to increase the commercial cap will be taken up by the county commission on February 5. County commissioners, if they support the planning commission, will eventually have to hold public hearings.

The lot is on Atlantic Avenue sandwiched in between the Marketplace to the east and a kennel currently under construction to the west. It is a preserve parcel, which means nothing can be built on it. So the builder found another two-acre lot in the Ag Reserve that will be preserved in exchange for allowing the property at the Marketplace to be developed.

Siegel noted that the existing preserve parcel at the Marketplace is idle land and the new preserve parcel, about a mile away, is better suited for agriculture. Other commissioners said they were frustrated at the number of preserve parcels that are not being used for agricultural purposes such as the one at the Marketplace. County planners said it should not have been approved as a preserve parcel.

To accommodate the builder, the county’s growth plan needs to be amended. Staff called the change “inappropriate” and an effort to “circumvent” the growth plan. The lot is only 33 feet wide by approximately 670 feet deep. Staff said approval triggers policy issues such as “piecemeal development.”

Jennifer Morton, the builder’s agent, told the commission that there is a need for more medical office space on Atlantic Avenue. The builder, Garret Bender of Delray Beach, has already opened a medical office complex just east of the Marketplace on Atlantic Avenue. It is fully leased, and Bender already has a physician interested in operating in his Marketplace building, according to Morton.

Morton noted that her client’s project will increase the current cap of 1,015,000 square feet by just 1.3%. The county has already increased the cap three times since 2016, adding another 94,000 square feet of commercial space during that time. When the Ag Reserve rules were written in 2002, the cap was set at 750,000 square feet. Commercial development is restricted to within a quarter-mile of either Atlantic Avenue or Boynton Beach Boulevard.

Morton said if the commissioners decided against raising the commercial cap, she proposed they get around the cap by considering the medical office building “commercial low office” and then exempt that category from being considered commercial. That option was not taken up by the planning commission.

Voting to increase the cap and allow the medical office building to be built were Siegel, Edwin Ferguson, Kiley Harper Larsen, Jim Knight, Marcia Hayden, Angella Vann and Eric Royal.

Voting against increasing the cap were Brahs, Barbara Roth, David Dinin, Lori Vinikoor, Alex Garcia, and Evan Rosenberg.

 

Source: Palm Beach Post

The New Parker MOB III Medical Office Building Breaks Ground In Colorado

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Vertix Builders, a culture-focused construction company, has started construction of the new Parker MOB III medical office building on the Parker Adventist Medical Campus

As a healthcare construction specialist, Vertix Builders will be working with a team that includes RTA Architects, Med Development and Parker Adventist.

“We’re excited to be working with Centura Health and Parker Adventist  to bring a great facility to their Parker campus,” said Ryan Bonner, president of Vertix Builders.  “The new Parker MOB III medical office building will provide the people who live and work in and around Parker with a superior facility that will meet their healthcare needs for years to come.”

Parker MOB III will be a four story, 86,000-square-foot building located on the Parker Adventist Medical Campus.  Tenant spaces will include medical oncology services, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, as well as an ear, nose, and throat practice.

Construction is scheduled for completion in early 2021.

 

Source: Mile High CRE

Dallas Is Nation’s Second Most Active Medical Office Building Construction Market

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Dallas-Fort Worth has the second-most medical office building construction nationwide, accounting for nearly 1.5 million square feet and behind only New York City.

Medical office buildings are getting larger, farther away from hospital campuses, and remain profitable and well-occupied in the region, according to Revista data shared by Mike Hargrave at the North Texas Hospital, Outpatient Facilities, and Medical Office Buildings Summit. Private equity is an growing influence in health care transactions, and Dallas leads major Texas markets in average rent and rent growth for medical office buildings as well.

Dallas has 14 projects under construction in the medical office building space valued at $503 million and is second only to New York’s more than 2 million square feet worth over $1.3 billion. Houston is a close third, with 15 projects accounting for 1.2 million square feet and $344 million.

Since the 1980s, medical office buildings have moved from around 1.5 miles from the nearest hospital to often nearing three miles today. Building peaked around 2009 with nearly 35 million square feet built that year to around 21 million this year.

Meanwhile, individual projects are getting bigger. Most projects were less than 40,000 square feet prior to 2005, but since 2009, the average square foot for medical office building are closer to 60,000 square feet.

Healthcare practices are growing as well. Between 1981 and 2007, most practices were less than 8,000 square feet, but today the median size is 12,000 square feet.

Occupancy of investor owned outpatient buildings has remained fairly consistent since 2009, hovering between 90 and 92 percent. Relative to Austin, San Antonio, and Houston, Dallas has nearly as much as Houston in terms of inventory with 34.2 million square feet, but is on top of the heap in occupancy at 89.8 percent. Its $22.53 per square foot is also tops in Texas, as well as its year over year rent growth at 2.9 percent.

Nationwide for the last four years, healthcare real estate transactions remain strong, hovering between $15 and $20 billion for combined hospital and medical office building deals. Private equity’s influence on those deals is growing, as 2014 saw 27 percent of transactions grow to 61 percent by 2018. REIT has seen a sharp decline, from 53 percent of deals in 2014 to just 16 percent last year.

Across the US, there are 439 medical office buildings and 491 general hospitals under construction, accounting for 108.3 million square feet and $67.2 billion. The median size of a medical office building is 50,000 square feet and median value is $17 million. Median hospital size is 95,5000 square feet worth $50 million.

 

Source: D CEO Healthcare