CHARLESTON, S.C. — Choate Construction has broken ground on the 28,000-square-foot SCRA MUSC Innovation Center – Charleston, a renovation and expansion of an existing historic property in Charleston’s industrial area. The center, which is located 2 miles from the Medical University of South Carolina campus, will feature biomedical research and lab space, administrative offices and a police substation. Choate will replace the roof, outfit the interior with new fixtures and fire-suppression systems and restore the façade to its original brick. The development is part of a larger plan to create a biomedical research hub in the city. Completion is expected this winter.
RIVERSIDE, CALIF. — Two medical centers have recently opened at Turner Development Corp.’s Medical Park at Riverwalk in Riverside. Loma Linda University Health Care has opened a state-of-the-art ophthalmology center at the park, and Riverside Regional Pain Center, which offers cutting-edge interventional pain management, has also opened. Loma Linda University Health Care is located on the first floor of 4244 Riverwalk Parkway, which is part of the two-building, 72,000-square-foot second phase of the medical park. Riverside Regional Pain Center is located at 4234 Riverwalk Parkway in Suite 120. Mike Kendall of Turner Development is spearheading the leasing and sales efforts for the second phase of Medical Park at Riverwalk.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Boston-based Colliers Meredith & Grew has arranged $10.5 million in construction financing for 90 Plain Street, a four-story, 39,775-square-foot medical office building located in downtown Providence. At the time of closing, the property was fully leased to Women & Infants Hospital; it is located adjacent to the Women & Infants Hospital campus, as well as Rhode Island Hospital. David Douvadjian and Thomas Welch of Colliers’ Capital Markets Group originated the loan on behalf of an entity related to Atlantic Management. It carries a 10-year term and a fixed interest rate. The lender was Middlesex Savings Bank.
BOSTON — Children’s Hospital Boston recently notified the Boston Redevlopment Agency of its plans to add a 103,000-square-foot expansion to the campus. The project is estimated to cost more than $100 million. The proposed 14-story building will expand the hospital’s 369,000-square-foot main building on Binney Street in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area of Boston. The project will expand the emergency room, radiology department, create a larger operating floor and add three inpatient bedrooms. Construction will begin pending approval.
MIAMI — Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Moss & Associates has commenced construction of the 84,670-square-foot Leon Medical Centers-Flagler. The property, located at 150 N.W. 79th Ave. in Miami, will deliver in November. The four-story hospital will exclusively cater to Medicare patients. Coral Gables, Fla.-based MGE Architects designed the building.
LA JOLLA, CALIF. — McCarthy Building Companies, serving as general contractor, is currently constructing the 328,000-square-foot Scripps Cardiovascular Institute and an adjacent 26,000-square-foot Central Energy Plant. The facilities are located on the Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla campus at 9888 Genessee Ave. in La Jolla. The Cardiovascular Institute will consist of 10 levels, including a basement, intermediate mechanical level and rooftop mechanical level; 60 beds on two ICU levels, 108 beds on three medical surgery levels, six operating rooms, four CAATH/EP labs, one sterile processing department and one imaging department. The Central Energy Plant will encompass three levels, with two below ground levels. The facility will provide the air conditioning, heating, medical gas, steam, fuel and waste storage, and emergency generators for the hospital. Scripps Health – San Diego hired McCarthy for the $340 million project, which is slated for completion in January 2015. Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum Inc. is providing architectural services for the project; KPFF Inc. is the structural and civil engineer; X-NTH is serving as mechanical engineer; and MWPA is the landscape architect.
MILWAUKEE — Santa Ana, Calif.-based Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT has acquired the a portfolio of four medical office buildings in the greater Milwaukee area. The portfolio consists of 185,000 square feet of gross leasable area in buildings located in Milwaukee, Menomonee Falls, Richfield and Mequon, Wisconsin. The unnamed seller completed a sale/leaseback transaction with Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT.
SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio office of Skanska USA Building has completed construction for Methodist Stone Oak Hospital, a new medical facility located on Sonterra Boulevard in San Antonio’s Northwest submarket. The hospital, which was designed by HOK Architects, includes 132 beds and is master-planned for as many as 350 beds. The design of the hospital includes an outpatient service mall entrance that provides easy access to various portals of care, including women’s services, admissions, treatment and testing, cardiology and outpatient surgery. The design also provides for easier overall navigation, specially designed waiting rooms and patient rooms that allow nurses to view patient rooms from their stations. Last fall, Skanska completed construction of a five-story, 120,000-square-foot office building at Methodist Stone Oak Hospital. The first floor of the building houses 25 to 30 administrative offices, two conference rooms, a chapel and a dining area. The remaining four floors are currently shell space and will be eventually finished for doctors’ offices.
ARCADIA, CALIF. — McCarthy Building Cos. has broken ground on a five-story, 154,486-square-foot patient tower at the Methodist Hospital of Southern California in Arcadia. The $140 million development features a first-floor emergency room, a 20-bed intensive care unit and 40 surgical beds. The added space will increase the hospital’s emergency room beds by 65 percent and will grow the ICU by one third. The total cost of the development is estimated at $218 million, which will be funded through HUD bonds. Delivery is slated for 2011.
DECATUR, ILL. — Chicago-based private healthcare real estate firm Lillibridge has acquired a 13-building, 255,000-square-foot medical office portfolio in Decatur. The company purchased the $31 million portfolio from Decatur Memorial Hospital, which fully occupies five of the buildings. Ten of the office buildings are located on the Decatur Memorial Hospital Campus, while the remaining three facilities are located off-campus in Decatur. Overall, the portfolio is 95 percent occupied. Lillibridge will own and manage the properties, and offer ownership options to the buildings’ physician tenants. A remodeling program will be implemented for some of the buildings over the next year.