Cirrus Kicks Off $6M Medical Offices Project in East Frisco

That Hillcrest Medical Park plan, however, is somewhat watered down since the three-acre tract practically abuts 32 acres bought recently by Tenet Health Systems, which intends to build a 100-bed acute care and three-story medical office building in an area flanked by four residential developments in the Dallas suburb. Jason Dodd, director of real estate services for Dallas-based Cirrus, tells GlobeSt.com that the private medical office builder was pushing its project, with Tenet as a prospective tenant, before the health-care giant got serious about the submarket's potential. "We knew about the hospital's interest, but it really just solidified what we already thought...that it was a terrific site," he says.

The Cirrus Group project calls for a 31,700-sf, single-story office building. It is 70% pre-leased, with Healthcare Associates of Frisco, as the lead tenant with 6,000 sf. By the September delivery, the structure at 4500 Hillcrest Rd. will be fully occupied, says Dodd. GSR Andrade, formerly AAE Architects of Dallas, is the designer. CF Jordan LLP is the general contractor.

Dodd says Tenet might still end up taking some space for an advance run to establish physicians' practices in the area near Hillcrest and Lebanon roads. The concept, says Cirrus president Bill Hutchinson, is "the 'modern-day house call' because it is easily accessible from a person's home and tenants are not buried in a hospital complex or huge, impersonal medical office complex." Going to the doctor's office, he says, "should be as simple and familiar as a trip to your neighborhood grocery."

Cirrus bought its site from the Christie Property Trust of McKinney in an in-house brokered deal. Tenet's buy was brokered by Jeff Davidson of the Davidson Co. in Dallas while David Craig of Dallas' Craig International represented the seller, Today Realty Co., led by principal Eric Brauss.

Davidson says Tenet is now meeting with city officials as it games out its project. And that, says Dodd, will take awhile, which is why he's optimistic talks that began in fall 2001 ultimately will bring Tenet on board at Cirrus' project. Frisco's medical services needs also are getting a boost from Baylor Healthcare, which is building a campus on the west side of town.

Cirrus so believes in the neighborhood development concept that it has applied for a zoning change in the community of Trophy Club and is researching Coppell as a possible project site, Dodd reveals. Cirrus has developed similar projects in Las Colinas and the Mid-Cities.