(Crystal Proenza is associate editor of Real EstateFlorida.)

WEST PALM BEACH, FL-NAI/Merin Hunter Codman, is expanding its medical real estate properties in terms of brokerage and leasing advisory services. The company has been named leasing agent for more than 100,000 sf on two local medical campuses, with plans to continue seeking more opportunities.

"The medical segment of the real estate market is a unique niche," says C. Todd Everett, managing director at NAI/Merin. "Whereas traditional real estate investors are focused on the highest return on properties, hospitals and medical facilities that own real estate focus on finding the best physicians to occupy their properties. Returns don't drive their property transactions. Doctors do."

The brokerage has been awarded the assignment of leasing 86,000 sf of medical office space in three buildings on the campus of St. Mary's Medical Center, a Tenet Healthcare-owned hospital that has served West Palm Beach for 70 years. The buildings include the two-story, 18,000 sf Professional Center; the three-story, 35,000-sf Children's Pavilion; and the three-story, 32,500 sf Medical Pavilion.