The short list included Transwestern Commercial Services inHouston and Mac Haik Management Corp. of Spring, which had managedthe two-million-sf portfolio for 20 years. Memorial's ChiefFacility Services Officer Marshall Heins says TCC ultimately stoodout because of its efforts toward developing a nationwidehealthcare real estate program. "They've been very successful ingrowing, developing and managing properties in the healthcarearena," he says.

Heins tells GlobeSt.com that another point in TCC's favor wasthat it was Memorial's development partner on two medical campusesin Sugar Land and Katy. "They did a good job on the constructionmanagement, leasing and property management side," he says. "Theexperience of working with them and their fee structure and hugeinitiative they had toward development pushed them over thetop."

Heins explains one of the strategic goals is to incorporate acommercial management component to the medical portfolio. "I reallywant to integrate from the commercial real estate sector all thegreat things property management firms use, such as web-basedtenant call and service requests, tenant satisfaction score andlong-term energy conservation programs," he says.