Seniors housing complex developer looks to built 4 new sites in the fourth quarter!

Zeke Turner, chairman and CEO of the firm is looking forward to also opening up at least 10 properties in 2012. Many of the new sites will be designed to handle Baby Boomers who need short term care after surgery or rehabilitation. "These are properties that focus on stays of 18-20 Days. The units are more hotel-style, with private rooms and bathrooms." Says Turner. Check out the full story here: http://www.globest.com/news/2016_2045/indianapolis/315800-1.html

Chicago's Mercy Hospital and Trinity - begin formal merger talks!

Speculated rumors of Mercy Hospital & Medical Center and Trinity Health discussing a merger have been confirmed. Mercy Hospital & Medical Center have signed a letter of intent to begin formal negotiations with Trinity Healthcare based in Novi, Michigan.

Check out the full story here: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20111103/NEWS03/111109871/mercy-trinity-begin-formal-merger-talks/healthcare

Gas Station Family Fuels Medical Office Developer

By: Bob Craig October 27, 2011

Brad Wilson

(Crain's) — Backed with $100 million from a Kentucky gas-station chain owner, Brad Wilson is buying properties and courting tenants for a series of medical office buildings in the suburbs.

Mr. Wilson, principal of Bluestone Healthcare Partners LLC, is counting on demand for medical office space to grow as more medical care shifts to outpatient settings. Bluestone already has bought development sites in Highland Park, Willowbrook and Oak Lawn and has a Hinsdale property under contract.

Mr. Wilson, 61, former director of planning and construction at the University of Chicago Medical Center, already has sold the idea to one key person, Matt Thornton, president and CEO of Thorntons Inc., a Louisville, Ky.-based company with gas stations in states including Illinois and Indiana.

The Thornton family has agreed to invest $100 million with Bluestone, and Mr. Wilson's partner, Rick Claes, is a former Thorntons executive.

Mr. Wilson's challenge now is to find tenants for his four planned buildings, which run from 20,000 to 65,000 square feet and will cost a combined $60 million to $70 million to build.

The large Chicago teaching hospitals, such as U of C and Rush University Medical Center, want to bring outpatient services to suburban markets, according to Mr. Wilson. He declines to identify potential tenants but says he is in talks with in-state and out-of-state health care groups and teaching hospitals.

With the aging population, the long-term growth prospects for health care real estate are strong. And the surge in off-campus outpatient facilities for cancer treatment, orthopedics, cardiology, urgent care and ambulatory surgery are driving demand for medical space outside the walls of hospitals, Mr. Wilson says.

"There will be a continuing need for medical office buildings in Chicago driven by the consolidation in the industry with hospitals buying doctor groups, bigger health care suppliers buying smaller community hospitals, health care reform and by changes in lifestyle and the aging population, says Shawn Janus, managing director in Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.'s health care practice.

The wild card is the U.S. government, which sets reimbursement rates for providers that get paid through federally funded health care programs, indirectly affecting demand for medical space.

“The big question is how much money will these hospitals be getting if Medicaid and Medicare get cut back,” Mr. Wilson says. “Everyone is sitting on their hands until they know the direction things are going to go.”

The vacancy rate for Chicago-area medical office buildings rose to 12.8% in the third quarter of 2011, up from 11.7% a year earlier, according to a report from real estate broker Marcus & Millichap. Across the Midwest, 800,000 square feet of medical office space is under construction, the lowest level in at least six years, the report says.

“You need 75% to 80% pre-leased to get your construction financed, so a lot of developers have walked away from health care,” Mr. Wilson says. “You have to be very good at it to know the market and where it is going.”

Mr. Wilson, a Chicago native, began his career building X-ray and imaging buildings before moving to the University of Chicago in 1992.

Bluestone continues to seek development sites that are close to hospital campuses and tenants from those hospitals or from other outpatient health care providers. Mr. Wilson aims to develop about $300 million in property, with about $100 million in equity from the Thornton family and borrowed money accounting for the rest. Mr. Thornton did not return a phone call.

Read more: http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/article/20111027/CRED01/111029753/gas-station-family-fuels-medical-office-developer#ixzz1cTBFaAEG