Condo Mobs Are Hot In The Miami Area: They Are A Viable Alternative To Leased Space For Many Local Physicians
Healthcare Real Estate Insights | By: John Mugford
Kenneth Weston, a longtime developer of and consultant on medical office building (MOB) projects, says pent up demand in certain areas of Miami-Dade and Broward counties is leading to a health dose of construction and plans for future medical offices.
Even though the hospital scene is quite crowded in Miami-Dade, there is demand for new MOBs, according to Mr. Weston, whose Miami-based firm has specialized in medical office condominium projects for two decades.
“The medical office market has been very strong over the last five years,” says Mr. Weston, “and that’s because many growing residential areas are lacking in supply. The people who live there have to drive out of their areas to see physicians because of a lack of medical office buildings.”
In recent years, demand for ownership of medical office condos has been fueled by low interest rates, as well as a shortage of medical spaces to lease and high rental rates. Even though Miami’s regular office vacancy rate hovers around 20 percent, there is much more demand for medical space, Mr. Weston says.
Mr. Weston says a major project, on which he declined to elaborate, is in the works for a 15-acre tract near Miami International Airport. He says the project could have hundreds of thousands square feet of outpatient medical users, from surgical centers to cancer treatment centers to any type of medical concept one can conceive.