SEATTLE—Heitman LLC, a multi-national real estate investment management firm, and NexCore Group LLC, a top-ranked national healthcare real estate firm, have acquired the First Hill Medical Pavilion, a class A, 227,628 square foot medical office/life science building. Located in the First Hill Medical District, immediately adjacent to Swedish Medical Center, the facility is the first medical office building of its class to be delivered to the Seattle market in over 20 years.

"First Hill is a valuable medical office/life science acquisition for the Heitman-NexCore team," says Ed Christen, NexCore's EVP of Finance & Acquisitions. "The building is strategically located in the First Hill Medical District of Seattle, which is one of the most desirable medical office markets in the United States. The building is 100% leased and comes with a very strong rent roll, including a long-term lease commitment from Swedish on 65% of the building."

NexCore provided due diligence and advisory services during the transaction, which was required to close in 35 days from the time the purchase was awarded to Heitman and brokered by CBRE. With the purchase of the First Hill Medical Pavilion, the Heitman-NexCore team has now completed a combined transaction volume of over $630 million.

As the anchor of the facility, Swedish Health Services—a member of Providence Health & Services—will offer the market a variety of mission critical programs, including its premier Organ Transplant Program that provides comprehensive care with elite technology to patients with chronic or advanced kidney and liver diseases. The program is one of four liver transplant centers serving the entire Pacific Northwest, offering patients critical care with the latest technology offerings.

Completed in the second quarter of 2015, the Medical Pavilion project is the result of renovation and new construction on a site previously housing a facility known as the Seattle Life Sciences Building. The conversion included construction of an additional 6-story, 60,000 square foot building wing, expanded parking with 411 stalls, and new elevators providing direct access from garage to clinical spaces. The Medical Pavilion features a subterranean pedestrian tunnel that provides direct access to Swedish Medical Center. The renovation and expansion included a complete rehabilitation of common spaces, mechanical, fire protection and electrical systems and tenant suites, resulting in a truly unique opportunity to utilize an existing structure and deliver a class A facility.

Designed by CollinsWoerman architects and constructed by Lease Crutcher Lewis contractors, the First Hill Medical Pavilion is considered the "next generation" in healthcare construction, offering patients and staff an abundance of natural light while decreasing solar gain into occupied spaces through new glazing and aluminum framing systems at curtain walls. Other features include automated energy management systems to allocate power based upon tenant consumption; advanced lighting controls that adjust lighting levels based upon daylight; and LEED Gold core and shell standards to significantly reduce water consumption. The Medical Pavilion was designed for maximum efficiency of patient flow between the various service departments and to provide ergonomic spaces for physicians and staff to increase productivity.

In 2004, NexCore Group was formed to focus exclusively on the development, acquisition, and management of healthcare real estate for health systems, hospitals, and physician groups. Since that time, NexCore has grown into a 64-person company that has been recognized repeatedly as one of the Top Healthcare Real Estate Developers in the US by Modern Healthcare magazine. NexCore provides a full spectrum of services that includes strategic and business planning, development, acquisition, ownership, financing, leasing, property management and asset management. The company's portfolio includes 5.5 million square feet of healthcare development and acquisition projects. The company is headquartered in Denver, and as the company continues to grow so does its geographic reach. Over the last several years, NexCore has opened regional offices in Chicago; Bethesda, MD: Portland, OR; Orlando, FL; and Laguna Niguel, CA, to expand its capacity across the country.

Heitman is a multi-national real estate investment management firm with approximately $34.8 billion in assets under management.

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.

Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

David Phillips

David Phillips is a Chicago-based freelance writer and consultant with more than 20 years experience in business and community news. He also has extensive reporting experience in the food manufacturing industry for national trade publications.