The Need
Windham Hospital is one of the five acute care hospitals that are part of Hartford HealthCare.
For over two years Hartford worked with a private developer to develop a 30,000-square-foot Medical Office Building on their campus. Tenants were identified for a portion of the building and a campus infrastructure project was underway to provide, among other things, a subdivided ground parcel, which would be leased from the Hospital. The Medical Office Building would be built on this parcel.
The Challenge
As plans proceeded with the private developer, the Hospital received a grant from the State of Connecticut totaling $8,354,500 for the project. One key requirement for the grant was that the Hospital needed to own the Medical Office Building. Therefore, the developer could not develop the project.
The client brought in Health Realty Advisors, Inc. to unwind the relationship with the developer and reposition the project to comply with the State’s Department of Economic and Community Development grant requirements.
Health Realty Advisors was selected because of our thorough understanding of the business of healthcare and our related development experience. We have financed and developed in excess of $300,000,000 of Medical Office Buildings over the last 25 years and have utilized public monies in numerous projects. Taking a private development project and converting it to complicated public works projects is complicated and takes a fairly high degree of financial sophistication — qualifications Health Realty Advisors could provide.
The Plan
Health Realty Advisors stepped into the role of Owner’s Representative and took control for all facets of the project, including compensating the developer for all costs incurred to date and creating a new role for the developer as the project construction manager. In our new role, HRA assumed responsibility for design, leasing, local approvals, and overseeing the development of the project. Most importantly, HRA was responsible for positioning the project so it complied with all grant regulations including a public bidding process that complied with the grant’s bidding rules.
The Results
The Windham Hospital project opened in August 2013. This vibrant, state-of-the-art facility delivers 21st -century medicine and has been well received by the community.