Medical Office Building Rising in Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, FL—Construction on a 60,000-square-foot medical office building is underway next to the new St. Vincent's Medical Center Clay County hospital. The project is part of a new medical complex that will serve one of Florida's fastest-growing counties.

Johnson Development is building the project, which should be completed by October. The medical office building includes facilities for cardiology, wound care, orthopedics, rehabilitation, neurology, and a sleep center. Johnson will own the medical office building with a group of area physicians.

“Jacksonville's economy is rebounding nicely and the area continues to grow,” Laurie Regan, a principal at Johnson, and the lead of the Clay County project, tells GlobeSt.com. “The Clay County market, in suburban southwest Jacksonville, is one of the fastest-growing areas within greater Jacksonville. The investment in the new hospital by St. Vincent's and our investment in the medical office building is a response to that growth. The medical office building is already 100% leased, and we expect to begin planning on a second building in the area soon.”

Clay County, a 64-bed hospital that is scheduled to open in the fall of 2013. The complex will serve a county that's expected to have nearly 200,000 residents in the next five years. According to Johnson's research, population of Clay County, located southwest of Jacksonville, grew 35% from 2000 to 2010, double the overall growth rate of Florida.

“The medical office building market is doing well around the Southeast, and not necessarily limited to one specific geographic area,” says Regan. She points to Johnson projects under construction in Alabama, Texas, and North Carolina, as well medical office building projects currently in the planning stages in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee.

“I would characterize the demand for medical office buildings as steady and encouraging,” Regan says. “And as hospitals and physicians gain more certainty around health care reform and the rebounding of the economy, we expect to see that demand increase steadily over the next few years.”