By Tracey Drury – Reporter, Buffalo Business First
Dec 21, 2022
The ongoing shift of services and surgeries from hospital inpatient units to community-based outpatient settings has made ambulatory surgery centers a hot investment.
That’s what helped developers of Amherst’s newest ASC sell off $4 million in shares, according to SEC filings, even though the center isn’t slated to open for more than a year.
It’s part of 716 Health, a 160,000-square-foot multi-tenant medical office building under development at 111 N. Maplemere by Ciminelli Real Estate Corp. for such tenants as include Kaleida Health and several UBMD physician practices.
Kaleida owns 50% of the 40,000-square-foot surgery center set to open in early 2024, while a group of physician members bought into Maplemere Ventures LLC, the company that owns the other half of the center.
Dr. Brian McGrath, a surgeon with UBMD Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine who is leading the project, said the project meets a growing need for more outpatient care.
“The more we shift to outpatient, the more capacity we need,” he said. “This will increase ambulatory surgery volume in our region.”
The certainty of outpatient centers also made the building a good bet for real estate investors: In June, an affiliate of Chicago-based Remedy Medical Properties LLC paid $22.5 million to buy the as-yet-unfinished building from 111 North Maplemere LLC, an investment group related to Ciminelli.
The total cost of the project is likely to come close to $100 million, including individual tenant improvements and buildouts, with the surgery center alone costing about $20 million.
In addition to the surgery center, Kaleida’s physician group, General Physician P.C., will operate a 30,000-square-foot primary care practice in the building; UBMD Ortho will have 50,000 square feet; UBMD General Surgery will occupy 25,000 square feet; while Great Lakes Medical Imaging/UBMD Radiology will take 16,000 square feet.
Bringing all of these Great Lakes Health Care partners under one roof helps to create more of a health care system that eases access for patients, McGrath said, as well as for hospitals.
“Everyone knows coming out of Covid, sometimes we need hospitals for doing things other than relatively routine joint replacement,” he said. “Ten years ago, you’d never think you’d get a knee or hip replacement and go home the same day. Now, that’s routine. Gall bladder, colon resections are also going to become routine.”