Rendina, REIT Join Medical Office Trend

MERCED, CA-A new medical pavilion to be jointly developed by Rendina Cos. and Health Care REIT Inc. will join the growing list of new medical office construction around the country, a trend that increasingly is being documented by GlobeSt.com and by industry observers. Rendina, one of the nation’s leading medical real estate development firms, has formed a joint venture with Toledo-based Health Care REIT Inc. to develop a four-story, 65,000-square-foot medical pavilion on the campus of the new Mercy Medical Center Merced, a Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) Hospital.  Health Care REIT Inc. will provide project funding in the amount of more than $15 million and will also provide property management services for the facility. Rendina will be responsible for all development, including construction management, leasing and tenant improvement coordination.

The new Rendina project is being developed in conjunction with a new hospital campus at Mercy Medical Center, notes David S. Dunham, president of Mercy Medical Center Merced. The hospital is currently constructing a 196-bed replacement hospital in North Merced, located next to Mercy Cancer Center. The new medical center is scheduled to open in May 2010.

News of the Rendina project follows closely the announcement by White Plains, NY-based Seavest, an investment management firm focused on healthcare real estate, that it is eyeing new investments in the Washington, DC area. The company has already completed a new $24 million medical building called Inova Fair Oaks III that it partnered with Chicago-based Lillibridge to develop. The $24-million building is 80% leased, and Seavest is in the very early stages of assessing two projects in the Washington, DC area, each at over 100,000 square feet.

The Mercy Medical Pavilion will be located directly on Mercy Medical Center Merced’s campus at the intersection of G Street and Mercy Avenue and is estimated to be completed in the first quarter of 2010. The primary purpose of the new medical office building will be to house general medical office space for staff and physician practices. In addition, 41,650 square feet of hospital-run services will be located in the building.

Catholic Healthcare West is the eighth-largest hospital system in the nation and the largest not-for-profit hospital provider in the West. Rendina Cos., which has developed more than five million square feet of medical facilities throughout the country, is based in Jupiter, FL; La Jolla, CA and Dallas. Health Care REIT Inc. is an equity real estate investment trust that invests across the full spectrum of senior housing and health care real estate.