HEALTHCARE INFLUENCER: Caddis
Caddis is a healthcare real estate investment, development and management firm that has consistently ranked among the top 10 developers of healthcare facilities nationally.
Caddis is a healthcare real estate investment, development and management firm that has consistently ranked among the top 10 developers of healthcare facilities nationally. Since its launch in 2008 it has developed, acquired or has under management more than 10 million square feet of assets, becoming the largest Texas-based developer of seniors housing and medical office buildings. It targets about $200 million in seniors housing construction starts every year and has completed roughly $1 billion in acquisitions and development since its inception. Caddis has developed products across the entire spectrum of healthcare real estate, including medical office buildings, imaging centers, ambulatory surgery centers, sub-acute and post-acute hospitals, senior living communities and federally qualified health centers.
The company first became active in seniors housing in 2011, specifically at the request of an operator that wanted assistance in developing a new facility in Texas. Upon stabilization, it sold the property.
After that experience, the company realized it had an affinity for the asset class and eventually launched its own seniors housing brand, Heartis. In the past few years it has grown Heartis brand nationally, developing and opening new communities in the Midwest and Southeast. Most recently, it began work on the 182-unit Heartis Venice in the seaside community of Venice, FL.
Acquisitions are also part of Caddis’ wheelhouse, focusing on single-asset or portfolio transactions up to $100 million. At the end of 2017, Caddis expanded its acquisition activities with the launch of its first real estate investment fund. The fund’s goal is to acquire between $200 million to $300 million each year of MoBs over a five-year period.
Overseeing these efforts is a team of partners led by Jason L. Signor. Having started his career as a civil engineer designing hospitals, Signor’s 2007 introduction to the founders of Medical Edge Healthcare Group—one of Texas’ largest independent physician groups—sparked the formation of Caddis. As CEO, he is responsible for the day-to-day management and operations of Caddis’ portfolio, including structuring and financing transactions and guiding the firm’s strategic direction.
With a 20-plus year background in transactional law, EVP and general counsel Lance M. Hardenburg established the firm’s transaction team. He manages the execution of acquisitions, dispositions and developments, as well as the structuring of debt and equity financing for its projects. Overseeing Caddis’ development platform is SVP Jud Jacobs, who works with hospital clients on strategic planning for major acquisition, development and campus improvement projects. Formerly a healthcare leader with Trammell Crow Co. and CBRE, he also structures investment opportunities for the benefit of health systems and physicians.
Rounding out the Caddis partnership is a group of professionals from across the healthcare business. James Wopnford has been in development finance, leasing and management for 40 years, and Joe W. Panter brought 25-plus years of real estate investment expertise to the team. Carl Soderstrom has accumulated 23 years of experience with physician practice groups and their management, most of which in leadership roles. And Clay Heighten is a doctor with a background in emergency medicine that founded several physician organizations. Both professionals were founding members of PhyServe Physician Services Inc., which provided comprehensive management support to multiple physician groups across the country. They are also involved on the entrepreneurial side, serving as a founding partners of an early-stage venture capital investment company and as co-founders of a Dallas-based healthcare-focused accelerator.
Other members of Caddis’ leadership team include Jason Hinkel, Joneice Preston, Christine Gorham and Shawn Janus. As VP of property management & leasing, Hinkel oversees the asset management for Caddis’ 2.5-million-square-foot owned and third-party management portfolio. Preston, controller and director, handles the firm’s accounting, treasury and financial reporting functions, as well as its insurance portfolio. Recently elected as chairman of the CREW Network Foundation, Gorham is Caddis’ Southeast business development director, while 30-year industry vet Janus serves as her counterpart in the Midwest.