By Jill Rasmussen, Davis The Minneapolis – St. Paul medical office building (MOB) market remains strong with calculated strategic growth from both hospital systems and independent clinics. The MOB sector has been resilient during the pandemic, economic challenges and local civil unrest. Providers have been focused on expanding into new market areas to locate close to their patient base, providing full-service medical hubs offering outpatient surgery and specialty services to communities while offering lower-cost care away from a hospital campus. The overall market remains very stable with a current vacancy rate of 8.6 percent on-campus and 10.6 percent off-campus. There remains high interest in off-campus locations for most non-acute care for location access and cost savings. Base rents continue to increase both on- and off-campus due to demand and higher new construction pricing. Base rates have reached nearly $22 per rentable square foot (rsf) on average on-campus and $21/rsf for off-campus existing product. New MOB construction rates have increased from $24.50/rsf to $28+/rsf due to interest rate hikes and supply chain/labor issues, but new construction projects continue to move ahead based on provider’s strategic initiatives. Annual base rent increases are trending up due to current inflation levels from a historical …
