{"id":650594,"date":"2026-05-18T15:59:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T15:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/650594\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T15:59:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T15:59:11","slug":"the-doctor-will-see-you-now-in-a-dazzling-new-office-sun-sentinel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/650594\/","title":{"rendered":"The doctor will see you now \u2014 in a dazzling new office \u2013 Sun Sentinel"},"content":{"rendered":"

A medical office boom is underway in South Florida, driven by patients\u2019 desire for convenience and an aging population that needs more healthcare services.<\/p>\n

The surge in new healthcare construction across all three South Florida counties will allow patients to see doctors or specialists close to home, or on the same campus where they might undergo a medical procedure. It means visits to offices with modern technology, advanced air filtration, electrical wiring for robotic surgery tools, and spaces that are much more inviting.<\/p>\n

In 2025, medical construction in the South Florida region added 1.45 million square feet of new space, up 2.4% from the prior year, the largest increase of any U.S. metro area, according to a new Blanca Commercial Real Estate report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot has been built, but we also have a good amount of square footage coming online,\u201d said Christie Grays Chambers, vice president of the healthcare practice at South Florida\u2019s Blanca Commercial Real Estate.<\/p>\n

The new construction represents hospital systems adding new campuses, free-standing emergency departments, and specialty centers, and includes medical offices as part of those projects. It also represents major developers responding to the demand for outpatient facilities.<\/p>\n

Renters now include a wide range of tenant types and services, including urgent care and emergency services, dialysis, ambulatory surgery and imaging, concierge practices, wellness clinics, and standard physician offices.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have a new medical building, it is going to be first class, and a lot of practices like to go in those spaces,\u201d Grays Chambers said.<\/p>\n

What the doctor wants<\/p>\n

As some South Florida physicians pivot to models that offer services requiring cash pay, they want spaces with larger waiting areas, more natural light, and an atmosphere more like a luxury spa than a sterile clinic, according to real estate firms tracking the industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese new spaces being built are designed for outpatient care and modern healthcare delivery,\u201d said Carlos Petersen with the South Florida office of CARR, a firm that represents healthcare clients looking for space.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe site for a new Baptist Health hospital complex in Sunrise. The new hospital complex will include an adjacent 25,000-square-foot medical office building for outpatient and specialty services. (Carline Jean\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
\nSome buildings under construction<\/p>\n

\u2022 Broward County: In Sunrise, Baptist Health South Florida is building a new hospital complex that will include an adjacent 25,000-square-foot medical office building for outpatient and specialty services. Two medical office buildings are rising on the campuses of Broward Health hospitals, one at its existing Fort Lauderdale campus and the other at its North Broward campus. Both are set to open in 2027.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Miami-Dade County: In North Miami Beach, \u00a0UHealth at SoL\u00e9 Mia will be the health system\u2019s largest outpatient center to date. This seven-story, 363,000-square-foot facility is set to be a major outpatient center for the University of Miami Health System and includes medical office space.\u00a0Mount Sinai\u2019s 112,000-square-foot Westchester Emergency Center and specialty care building, now under construction, includes a freestanding emergency department and multi-specialty outpatient offices.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Palm Beach County: Several projects are concentrated near major hospital hubs. Sina Companies is developing a 50,000-square-foot medical building in partnership with Jupiter Medical Center at the Avenir development. And construction is underway on Alan B. Miller Medical Center in Palm Beach Gardens, which includes a 156-bed hospital and an 80,000-square-foot medical office building.<\/p>\n

Hospitals often occupy large portions of their own on-campus medical office buildings to house services that support the main facility. But some in South Florida are owned by third-party real estate investment trusts (REITs) or developers, who attract tenants by offering proximity to the hospital and other perks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have about 10 medical office buildings that we lease, and I would say that the main challenge when a medical office building is on the campus of a hospital is prohibited uses, because you can\u2019t bring in services that compete with the hospital,\u201d Grays Chambers said.<\/p>\n

Will physician demand weaken?<\/p>\n

Despite a physician shortage across several specialties, investors are betting that the healthcare sector will continue to grow.<\/p>\n

A 2025 Florida Department of Health Physician Workforce Annual Report<\/a> said Florida has more than 62,000 physicians who provide direct patient care, but a third of them are older than 60 and could soon retire. The report said the state already has a substantial shortage of physicians across several specialties, requiring an additional 3,835 physicians to address it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere may be a shortage, but the demand for the medical space is still exploding because of the evolution of how healthcare is being delivered,\u201d Petersen said.<\/p>\n

He notes that independent physicians are less common and more medical office space is being leased by private equity-backed physician groups, dental and orthodontic providers, physical therapists, and nurse practitioners who operate their own practices.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe site for a new Baptist Health hospital complex in Sunrise. The new hospital complex will include an adjacent 25,000-square-foot medical office building for outpatient and specialty services. (Carline Jean\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Petersen said medical office building development follows the makeup and growth of the population. The 65-plus population in counties like Manatee and Palm Beach is nearly double the national average, according to the Florida Department of Health. As the population ages, the need for care of conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and cognitive decline rises, requiring more physical space for specialists and primary care providers.<\/p>\n

\u201cPalm Beach is the most fascinating of all three counties because you have that explosive wealth migration \u2014 an extension of the Northeast \u2014 and it\u2019s colliding with a limited supply,\u201d Petersen said. At least half a dozen new healthcare projects and hospital expansions are underway in Boca Raton, Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens and West Palm Beach.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Palm Beach County led the region in average asking rents with same-building growth at 3.1%, followed by Broward at 2.6% and Miami-Dade at 2.2%, according to the Blanca South Florida Medical Real Estate Market Report.<\/p>\n

The new construction has affected older medical office buildings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re facing that pressure to either revamp and modernize or reposition, and if not, they\u2019re going to have to lower their rental rate to stay competitive,\u201d Petersen said.<\/p>\n

Petersen said patients will benefit from developments in the marketplace.<\/p>\n

\u201cProviders are willing to pay more for the newer buildings, for the better parking, for the visibility, for the signage, for the more modern infrastructure and for the better patient experience,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cEverything is heavily tied to the patient experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

South Florida health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at cgoodman@sunsentinel.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A medical office boom is underway in South Florida, driven by patients\u2019 desire for convenience and an aging…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[8019,28,2808,97,252,253,2558,983,31040,3,37652,1170,5262],"class_list":["post-650594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-broward-county","tag-business","tag-florida","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-miami-dade-county","tag-news","tag-palm-beach-county","tag-real-estate","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}