COLORADO SPRINGS, CO-In Colorado and Arizona, Denver-based Westfield Co. Inc. is well known as a rather prolific developer of office buildings, apartments and retail centers. In 2010, the company completed the largest building added to the Denver skyline in 25 years: the 22-story, 500,000-square-foot 1800 Larimer building.

And even though Westfield's website does not list healthcare among the commercial real estate sectors with which it's involved, the firm has become quite active in the medical real estate market in Colorado Springs, about 50 miles south of Denver.

There, despite reports that the medical office building vacancy rate sits at about 15%, Westfield is bullish on the healthcare market in the city of about 430,000 residents. Last year, the company completed a $15 million MOB with four floors and 72,000 square feet called Penrose Pavilion; it's located next to Penrose Hospital, part of the merged Penrose-St. Francis Health Services system. In January of this year, Westfield acquired a 23,000-square-foot medical facility that had been home to the Rocky Mountain Cancer Center, which has since moved into Penrose Pavilion.