Medical Offices Alive And Healthy
Daily Business Review | By: Tasha C. Joseph
Growing population of elderly lures physicians to South Florida, spurring demand for office space.
The medical office market is thriving, despite a general decline in South Florida's commercial real estate market since the terrorist attacks of 911. And experts predict that demand will soon surpass supply.
"South Florida has always enjoyed a relatively stable medical office market," says Kenneth Weston, president of Kenneth Weston and Associates, a Miami real estate firm that specializes in the sale and leasing of medical office property. "Over the years the market has continued to evolve, and we're finding an influx of doctors and other medical professionals relocating to South Florida from other parts of the United States."
"We're seeing solo physicians who are joining forces and opening one huge office that houses all of their practices, which keeps their operating costs low," says Weston. Rising rental rates have also led many doctors to eye the prospect of ownership.
Hospitals must also keep pace with specialty medical offices like imaging and plastic surgery centers. "These specialty offices are going up all over South Florida suburbs," says Weston. "Believe it or not, patients prefer the intimacy of a smaller office."