Doctors are snapping up land near U.S. 59 and State Highway 6 in Sugar Land, as a mini medical complex is springing up near the site of a planned St. Luke’s hospital.
Doctors have been buying tract after tract at Lake Pointe Town Center, 186-acre mixed-use project under construction near the existing Fluor Corp. headquarters in Sugar Land.
“It’s a frenzy,” said Don Janssen, senior vice president of Planned Community Developers, which is developing the project.
Janssen added that nearly 80% of the land dedicated for medical offices has been sold. Much of this property is located in front of the Life Time Fitness Center along State Highway 6.
The buying activity took place before anyone knew for certain that St. Luke’s planned to build in Lake Pointe, Janssen said.
Most of the doctors are specialists who have had their practice for a while. Some wanted to be close to Methodist Sugar Land Hospital at U.S. 59 and Sweetwater Boulevard, while others have chosen the area because they consider property at U.S. 59 and State Highway 6 to be a good investment, Janssen said.
Many doctors prefer to own rather than lease after they do the math, said Kolbe Curtice of Curtice Commercial Real Estate.
With office buildings leasing at $20 to $23 per square foot in the U.S. 59 and State Highway 6 corridor, a tenant may pay about $6,000 a month, or $70,000 a year in rent. For many doctors, it’s more economical to buy land and build on it. “And after seven years, they own it,” he said.
Curtice is developing the Offices On Brooks Lake, a two-and-a-half-story, 25,000-square-foot building in Lake Pointe Town Center, set for completion in September.
“Six to seven calls out of 10 I get these days are medical related,” Curtice said.
The Simpkins Group has built a four-building office condominium project at 1415 State Highway 6. Called the Offices at Lake Point, the one-story buildings offer office suites from 1,561 to 3,216 square feet, up to a combined 12,272 square feet.
“These allow smaller doctor’s offices to own their own unit,” said Robert Bryant, executive vice president of Simpkins.
Other medical buildings locating in the Lake Pointe development include Southwest Bone & Joint Clinic, Diversified Rehab Hospital, Hillcroft Medical and buildings owned by plastic surgeon Dr. Tuan Vu and pediatrician Dr. Nadia Kreit.
FortBendNow reported in May that St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System is building a new hospital and office building at Lake Pointe. The hospital will include 60 private rooms with acute care beds, 20 private rooms dedicated to women’s services, a 10-bed pediatric unit, and a 10-bed intensive care unit.
Meanwhile, Methodist Sugar Land Hospital is building a major expansion next to its existing 54-bed, 105,000-square-foot hospital at U.S. 59 and Sweetwater Boulevard. Set for completion in 2008, the $150 million expansion will add two six-story buildings, or 345,000 square feet of space, and triple the hospital’s beds from 54 to 170. Methodist is also building a $20 million medical office building near the hospital.
Further down U.S. 59, Memorial Hermann just opened a $94 million hospital and medical building on a 27-acre parcel at Grand Parkway. Construction of the 77-bed hospital started in January 2005.
Doctors have been buying tract after tract at Lake Pointe Town Center, 186-acre mixed-use project under construction near the existing Fluor Corp. headquarters in Sugar Land.
“It’s a frenzy,” said Don Janssen, senior vice president of Planned Community Developers, which is developing the project.
Janssen added that nearly 80% of the land dedicated for medical offices has been sold. Much of this property is located in front of the Life Time Fitness Center along State Highway 6.
