Tech and Equipment Increase MOB Renovations

SAN DIEGO—Modern medical technological advances and increased efficiency demands are creating a greater need for renovations to medical-office buildings, Pacific Building Group's president Jim Roherty tells GlobeSt.com. After the company's completion of a full renovation of a 25,000-square-foot space for Imaging Healthcare Specialists in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego, we spoke exclusively with Roherty about repurposing obsolete medical buildings for modern use.

GlobeSt.com: Is the process of repurposing old medical buildings for modern user common in the San Diego market?

Roherty: It's becoming more common, and it's driven by the technology curve with medical equipment like MRIs, x-ray machines and CT scans, which is changing like your TV set. Nothing happened for 15 years, and then every two years, the technology changes. The same is true with medical office, especially with imaging centers. Medical offices in general need to be able to keep up with the current technology.

The other big driver is that spaces have to become more efficient, especially imaging centers with large pieces of equipment. They need to get people in and out of there because they're being compensated less from the ever-changing insurance companies. For example, for the project in Hillcrest, the user moved their facility from another location where the x-ray equipment had only one control room to its current location where they have two control rooms and can move more quickly from patient to patient.

GlobeSt.com: What types of renovations are you seeing/doing in the market?

Roherty: Spaces always require renovation when new equipment arrives because most of the new equipment has more requirements for heating, cooling, electrical and IT than it has in the past. So, we may have to upgrade the infrastructure of a suite to accommodate this new equipment.

GlobeSt.com: Are you also seeing repurposing of non-medical buildings for medical use?

Roherty: Yes, we've been seeing that for a few years. We've been seeing more medical users go into traditional office buildings. There's been a move for the medical community to get closer to their customers, so you're seeing—where an MOB used to be just adjacent to a hospital or a little off the beaten path, now it's right in the middle of the action. For example, a project Sharp did in Del Mar above the Whole Foods store at Via de la Valle is an example of the medical industry going to where their customers are.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about this type of renovation and users of this space?

Roherty: In non-traditional medical space, tenants are generally going to have a demand for parking that is maybe slightly higher than what is typical for that space. There will also probably be a higher demand for electrical and mechanical infrastructure than what landlords are used to. That's why old buildings don't work anymore—they don't have the electrical or mechanical infrastructure to accommodate modern equipment.