Cirrus, Carrell Clinic JV for $50M Medical Campus

The Cirrus Group LLC and 12 doctors from WB Carrell Memorial Clinic independently were chasing the land when they stumbled across each other in the pursuit. The physicians subsequently interviewed several developers and then tagged Cirrus for the plan. Each phase of the 250,000-sf project is estimated at $25 million, Bill Hutchison, Cirrus' president, tells GlobeSt.com about a development with equity from both sides. "They are more than just a tenant....they put a lot of money into the deal," he stresses. The first phase is 90% pre-leased and talks are underway for about 50,000 sf of the second phase, he says.

The Carrell Clinic, now located three miles to the south at 2902 Lemmon Ave., will occupy 35,000 sf of the 110,000-sf first phase with a specialty orthopedic surgery and rehab practice and the remaining 65,000 sf are earmarked for medical offices. Hutchison also ticketed 10,000 sf for the Cirrus headquarters, now at 1700 Pacific in the Dallas CBD.

Typical finish-out allowance runs $40 per sf, with physician-tenants providing their own equipment for office space tagged at $19.85 per sf plus expenses, according to Hutchison. Cirrus' longtime architect, GSR-Andrade Architects of Dallas designed the campus, the developer's largest undertaking to date in North Texas.

An 11-month construction schedule is penciled for the first phase, being called Carrell Clinic Center. Hutchison says the 140,000-sf second phase should be rising before the first wave of work wraps up. The trigger gets pulled when pre-leasing hits 50%, he says. Nat Klein with the Cirrus Group is steering the leasing drive, which has secured signed leases for an imaging center, rehab facility, clinic and a letter of intent for a surgery center with 10 operating rooms. The closed deals' terms run five to 15 years, Hutchison says.

The seven-acre tract is one of the last available empty parcels along North Central Expressway. Hutchison says the project site has a lot of pluses, including freeway visibility, but foremost is a location at the epicenter of a medical triangle with Baylor University Medical Center, Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas and Medical City Dallas.