This Could Change Medical Office Investing

PALM BEACH—Mario Gonzalez, 34, is working hard to expand Health Care REIT's best-in class medical office building portfolio. And his accomplishments so far are impressive.

Gonzalez has negotiated over 400,000 square feet of new medical office lease transactions and over 1 million square feet of renewals in his five years at the firm. He has also sourced off-market acquisition opportunities valued in excess of $50 million. During his tenure, the managed occupancy and NOI in his regions reached historical highs for the company, while bad debt fell to historical lows.?

“The gap between class A strategic medical office assets and the next tier of assets will continue to grow,” Gonzalez tells GlobeSt.com. “Hospital and health system consolidation will create winners and losers in each market, making due diligence and vision increasingly important in our investment decisions. Healthcare will likely continue to create uncertainty amongst physicians, which will further bolster the consolidation trend.”

Gonzalez is currently responsible for the financial performance of 3.4 million square feet of medical office space in the company's Florida and East regions. He also interfaces with functional team members such as property management, engineering and accounting, to define and execute on the property-level strategies that maximize total shareholder return for the REIT.?

“Owning medical office in general is no longer necessarily strategic unless you have a very good understanding of market factors and you strive to be a true partner to hospitals and health systems, which can sometimes mean sacrificing the short-term in order to gain in the long-term,” Gonzalez says. “The shift of patient care from inpatient to outpatient facilities will challenge the long-held notion of on-campus properties being superior investments.”