One segment of commercial real estate that has had many eyes on it in the last year and a half is the healthcare subclass. And on Thursday, September 9, a group of nearly 100 professionals gathered in Oak Brook for the 8th Annual Chicagoland Healthcare & Medical Office Conference.
The summit featured three panels over the course of the morning on all things healthcare real estate development, leasing, and property management. The first panel, which covered the theme of development and design opportunities shaping the medical office and was moderated by Lisa Skolnik, SVP at Content Purpose Brand, featured Steve Blye, Creative Director and Associate Director of Legat Architects; Katie Lambert, Design Director of OKW Architects; Eric Radloff, Program Manager for Midwest Healthcare at Walsh Group; and Azi Fiefel, Director of Operations at Prospect Resources, Inc.
Points of discussion during the first panel included topics about ever-changing design in the medical world, the complexities around construction costs and timelines, the specific challenges to developing medical office and healthcare space, as well as the theme of collaboration in a time of so much change and uncertainty.
The second panel, which was focused on leasing and trends in medical office property management, highlighted topics like emerging technologies, the increasing interest in co-working as an office model, and the need to maintain consistent communication with potential client tenants and existing customers.
This panel was moderated by Valerie Cook, Director of Cook Commercial Partners | KW Commercial, and featured Jonathan Swindle, President of Waveland Property Group; Brian Edgerton, SVP at NAI Hiffman; and Craig Coupe, EVP of brokerage for JLL.
Closing the conference was a third panel that covered the evolving world of investment in medical office and healthcare opportunities. Cap rates, attractive opportunities, emerging markets and competition were some of the primary topics discussed. The final panel featured Amy Sovine, Regional Asset Manager & Training Specialist for Physicians Realty Trust; Jim McMahon, Senior Director at Capital One Healthcare; and John Riddle, Managing Director at Brown Gibbons Lang & Company. Jerry Lumpkins, Chicago Commercial Real Estate Lead for Bank Leumi USA moderated the discussion.
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Moderator: Lisa Skolnik, Purpose Brand
