President’s Message: A Healthy Prognosis for Healthcare Real Estate

The healthcare industry has rapidly evolved over the last few years. Having broad access to quality healthcare, both physical and digital (e.g., telehealth), has become critically important, and healthcare providers are creating innovative ways to deliver their products and services to their clients in the most efficient way possible.  

Healthcare service providers are making deliberate decisions on how and where to establish physical locations to meet customer demands, with access, convenience, and wellbeing top among those factors. We’re seeing more and more healthcare services shifting away from traditional hospital campus settings and emerging in local neighborhoods. Healthcare providers are taking a cue from the retail playbook by establishing multiple, well-situated locations within a community, increasing the number of entry portals within their respective networks while also exploring different facility configurations to enhance the customer experience.   

We can expect to see more digital integration into the healthcare landscape like telehealth options and patient monitoring technology, self-check-in kiosks in waiting rooms (or no waiting rooms altogether), and even drive-thru options. Of course, all these new and emerging concepts will require strategic real estate planning and partnerships.

At Stirling Properties, we are adapting to the changing healthcare environment. While the demand for healthcare services continues to grow and transform, so are our service lines to meet those respective needs. As part of our company’s strategic growth plan, we have expanded into new real estate sectors with a translatable skill set which has added value and diversified our commercial portfolio. Here are a few of our recent projects:

• Development: A 20,000-square-foot freestanding Emergency Room & Imaging Services clinic in LaPlace, LA, based on a 20-year lease to Ochsner Clinic Foundation;
  (4) Ochsner Kidney Care clinics in the GNO area, averaging 7,000 square feet, through a joint venture of Ochsner Health and National Renal Care (NRC); the conversion of a former retail building into a 25,000-square-foot multispecialty clinic in Bossier City, LA, in partnership with Ochsner-LSU Health System of North Louisiana (OLHSNL); Tammany Cancer Center in Covington, LA, a 75,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility in partnership with Ochsner and St. Tammany Health System; and Ochsner Medical Complex – The Grove in Baton Rouge, LA, a 210,000-square-foot medical center, including a five-story, 180,000-square-foot medical office building, and a 30,000-square-foot ambulatory care center.
• Acquisition & Financing: We partnered with Ochsner Health System to refinance a $59.8 million newly built 129,875-square-foot rehabilitation hospital in Jefferson, LA; and we acquired and managed the renovation of the shuttered 205,000-square-foot Louisiana Heart Hospital in Lacombe, LA, into a Post-Acute Care Hospital with Ochsner Health System and its local partners, St. Tammany Parish Hospital and Slidell Memorial Hospital.
• Facilities Management: Stirling Properties manages Mary’s Medical Center in Shreveport, LA, a 730,000-square-foot, multi-story medical complex. Over the past three years, this virtually vacant campus has been repurposed to include neurosurgery, neurology, a pediatric specialty clinic, an OBGYN clinic, and training rooms.
• Leasing/Redevelopment: We work with several prominent healthcare providers to locate and re-lease dormant retail spaces with distinctive healthcare services. Current projects include a regional health and wellness club in Harahan, LA; a pediatrics clinic at River Chase in Covington, LA; a behavioral & women’s health clinic at Oakridge Place in Metairie, LA; a Restore Hyper Wellness clinic at Premier Centre, in Mandeville, LA; and regional tenant rep for JenCare Senior Medical Center; among many others.

Our team has learned to adapt to the diverse needs of our healthcare clients, which include Ochsner Health System, LSU Health, St. Tammany Parish Hospital, Our Lady of the Lake, Baton Rouge General, and many more. We have tailored our real estate services so that whether our role is advisory, development & redevelopment, site selection, master planning, brokerage & lease negotiation, entitlements, financing, design & construction management, or asset & property management, our healthcare real estate team can assist.

The healthcare industry will continue to expand and evolve in the future, but it goes much further than simply keeping our communities healthy; it’s serving as an economic driver. Healthcare has become the reason why people and companies choose to locate/relocate in a particular area or region. Much like parents look to live in areas with good school systems, access to quality healthcare is equally important. Healthcare is also a significant job creator—one of the largest employers in the U.S.—and not just for medical providers, doctors, and nurses. Healthcare employs IT professionals, technicians, construction jobs, and maintenance providers—everything from landscaping to HVAC techs to cleaning services. The greatest need for the healthcare industry is a trained workforce and labor market.

The prognosis for the healthcare industry unquestionably looks healthy moving forward, both from a real estate and economic development perspective. Businesses and communities that can adapt to take advantage of the resulting opportunities will reap the benefits.