Meridian, a full-service real estate developer and owner of medical office real estate, is pleased to announce that it has completed the sale of Cotton Medical Center located at 50 Bellefontaine St. and 50 Alessandro Pl., adjacent to Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California. The property consists of two freestanding, multi-tenant office buildings totaling 115,000 square feet. The buyer was Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE: HR), a publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) that focuses on owning, managing, acquiring and developing outpatient medical facilities throughout the United States. The sale price was not disclosed. 

Meridian acquired the property in January 2016 when the buildings were 71% occupied. During its ownership, Meridian performed over $10 million in interior and exterior renovations and brought occupancy up to approximately 86%.

According to Meridian’s Vice President of Acquisitions, R.J. Sommerdyke, “This was Meridian’s largest acquisition at the time and provided an opportunity to acquire a fee-simple interest in a fundamentally strong market in Southern California. In addition to Cotton Medical Center’s proximity to the hospital, access to LA Metro’s Fillmore Station and convenient access to the 110, 210 and 134 freeways were also influencing factors in the acquisition.”

“Our renovations were extensive,” said Heidi Duffy, Meridian Asset Manager. “Scope of work for the project included installing new wayfinding signage throughout both the interior and exterior of the buildings, updating all common areas with new modern finishes, elevator modernization, installing fire sprinklers in one of the buildings, performing Title 24 and ADA upgrades, new automated parking equipment, a new Café, electric car charging stations, and installing high efficiency BMS, HVAC, and lighting systems throughout the building. We wanted to make sure we capitalized on this opportunity by not only modernizing the buildings, but also improving the patient experience, which we definitely accomplished.” 

Angie Weber, Dana Nialis and Kyle Weber of CBRE’s Los Angeles office managed the leasing efforts at the property. Both the buyer and seller were self-represented in the off-market, direct-sale transaction.

“This asset purchase, reposition and lease-up is a prime example of our core business,” continued Sommerdyke. “Improving the patient experience and the working environment and efficiencies for healthcare providers is our primary mission. Meridian has a healthy pipeline with multiple projects currently in escrow and several completed projects listed for sale in our healthcare business platform. With approximately 500,000 square feet currently in development/redevelopment, plus another 500,000+ square feet in the development pipeline, we are still looking for more throughout California, the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest. We really have an appetite for land and buildings where we can bring our expertise to bear and create value.”  
For more information, see www.mpcca.com.