FLAGSHIP HEALTHCARE PROPERTIES ACQUIRES FORMER CORPORATE OFFICE BUILDING IN WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA
WILMINGTON, N.C. — Flagship Healthcare Properties (Flagship), an outpatient healthcare real estate firm, is pleased to announce the acquisition and repurposing of a Class A office building into a healthcare destination center of choice for providers in Wilmington, North Carolina.
“Flagship is in the business of finding creative solutions to bring value to its investors and health care provider clients alike,” said Thorn Baccich, executive vice president, development. “With this project we have achieved both. We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with Novant Health to improve the efficiency and access to critical outpatient services in the Wilmington region.”
The three story, 153,526-square-foot property at 3601 Converse Road was purpose-built as a single-tenant office building formerly occupied by Verizon. Flagship is well on its way to repositioning this property as an outpatient healthcare campus, and has already received lease commitments from Novant Health, who’s tenancy in the building will begin in 2025 with services that will eventually occupy two floors of the building in the newly branded Flagship Medical Plaza.
“We’re pleased to move forward with our plans to advance access to a range of care options, including specialized physicians, lab services, imaging and infusion therapy, all in one central location,” said Ernie Bovio, president of the Novant Health Coastal Region and Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center. “We continue to recruit new physicians to the area to care for our growing community, and a building of this size will provide us operational flexibility to configure physician clinic space as needed to serve our patients.”
Less than 2 miles from Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center’s 800-bed hospital, the property is strategically located for medical practices looking to serve the Greater Wilmington area. The region has a diverse economy that is home to companies and people from around the world, producing everything from foods, fiber optics, and aircraft engines to life-saving pharmaceuticals and industry-leading financial technologies. All have one thing in common: a passion for sustained success. Parade Magazine ranked Wilmington No. 1 among its Best Places to Retire in 2023.
“With the current high cost of construction, repurposing a former office building certainly sounds like a great idea, but often the reality is there are just too many compatibility and timing challenges to justify the investment,” said Gerald Quattlebaum, executive vice president, acquisitions. “However, in this instance we were able to identify a property that was well-suited for medical conversion, and couple that with the dominant local health system and physician providers to address a need within the market. The response from the healthcare community has been tremendous, and we are excited about the future of this project.”
The property was acquired through Flagship’s private real estate investment trust, Flagship Healthcare Trust (Flagship REIT). Flagship will provide property management and asset management services for the medical office building.
