Healthcare developers considering building primary care space may be hearing a voice in their heads, one that gives them pause: “If you build it, they may not come.”

That’s because patients increasingly are choosing at-home settings for noncomplex care, making primary care space a less desirable part of the medical office building mix, according to medical developers speaking at the Bisnow‘s Charlotte Healthcare Conference. 

“Healthcare has become a consumer-driven product,” said Mike Orlando, vice president of Realty Trust Group.

The healthcare industry has long pushed to provide more in-home care but has only made incremental progress toward that goal in the last couple of years. However, annual spending for at-home care is expected to rapidly accelerate from $155B in 2025 to nearly $321B by 2035, according to a report from healthcare consulting firm Nova One Advisor. 

A wider pool of providers will be focusing on at-home care in the future, said Sarah Mueller, national director of healthcare for the Beck Group. This presents a challenge for developers of medical office buildings.

“If care is really going to start to get pushed more into the home as much as can be done, what does that mean for the built environment?” she asked at the event, held March 31 at The Union at West Station.

As primary care becomes more decentralized, MOB space is being reshaped or developed into facilities focused on intensive or specialized care.

“The way it changes the built environment is it increases the complexity of patients that are going to be [there],” said Bennett Thompson, vice president of real estate for Atrium Health. 

Given the consumer preference for care close to home, healthcare providers are choosing to open satellite or outpatient offices in neighborhood settings. 

“Patients are more comfortable heading to their neighborhood location, if it’s primary care or something that can be done off campus,” said Ben Barr, managing partner for Woodside Health. “So they don’t have to head to a big parking garage and walk through a whole big hospital.” 

When choosing a location for these local facilities, Orlando said accessibility, visibility and convenience are key. He noted that prime locations might be an inline strip center or a grocery-anchored shopping center. These sorts of locations are also good spots for urgent care centers. 

“Is it on the way to and from school and work? Can I get in easily? Those are all factors,” he said. 

This pull away from primary care space comes at a time when new MOB space, in general, can be hard to come by. This isn’t because of a lack of demand. 

From a national standpoint, demand for medical outpatient offices is high. In the state of North Carolina, for example, there are 199 outpatient clinics that employ more than 28,000 workers and earn more than $5B in revenue each year. The MOB market occupancy rate was record-setting in Charlotte, above 93%, according to a November 2025 PwC report on trends in commercial real estate. 

However, the expenses of constructing new medical space is becoming prohibitive. The fit-out cost for medical outpatient facilities has reached $412 per SF, according to a February JLL guide on MOBs. 

This makes existing MOB space a sought-after commodity. Investment in MOB space, driven largely by sales, rose 35% year-over-year in 2025 to $12.6B, according to CBRE. The Southeast led the way in investment dollars in MOB in Q4 2025, specifically, with $1.6B spent on such space in the region. 

Overall, Charlotte has emerged as a med-tech innovation hub, with work currently underway on the $1.5B The Pearl district, a 26-acre development anchored by the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and backed by Atrium Health and Wexford Science & Technology.

JLL Capital Markets arranged a $34.115-million construction-to-perm loan for SixSixty, a Class A medical building totaling 124,076 square feet in downtown Sacramento. Senior managing directors Jeff Sause and John Chun worked on behalf of the borrower, the joint venture of Revitate’s opportunity zone platform, RevOZ Capital and Argosy Real Estate Partners, to secure the seven-year loan through Siemens Financial Services.

SixSixty is located at 660 J St. in Sacramento’s Downtown Commons entertainment and lifestyle district. The area has benefitted from a substantial transformation over the past decade through the development of the award-winning Golden1 Center and Downtown Commons retail and entertainment district, among other attractions and luxury hospitality destinations, according to JLL.

Originally built in 1984, SixSixty was fully renovated following the borrower’s 2020 acquisition. 97% of the property’s rentable square footage was recently leased to one of the largest health systems in the nation.

Newmark has arranged the sale of the $16 million Oxford Court Portfolio—a nine-building medical office campus in Langhorne, Pennysylvania—to ESJ Capital Partners.

Newmark Senior Managing Directors Michael Margolis and David Dolan and Associate Angelo Brutico represented seller SkyREM on the transaction. “The Oxford Court portfolio is a highly compelling investment, driven by its strategic location and strong tenant roster. We look forward to seeing the assets continue to thrive under new ownership,” said Margolis.

The 152,310-square-foot portfolio was 72% leased at the time of sale. The portfolio is located adjacent to the Oxford Valley Mall, a Simon property that spans 1.2 million square feet, and Jefferson Bucks County Hospital.

Additionally, the Oxford Court portfolio benefits from being just three miles from the intersection of Interstate 95, Interstate 295 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike. This location provides accessibility to the Pennsylvania suburbs of Greater Philadelphia as well as central New Jersey.

CBRE facilitated the sale of Rowland Medical Plaza, an 81,410-square-foot medical outpatient building (MOB) located in Novato, and secured financing for the buyer, Los Angeles-based Stockdale Capital Partners. The buyer reported an acquisition price of $32.8 million. 

Chris Bodnar, Brannan Knott, Cole Reethof and Trent Jemmett of CBRE U.S. Healthcare Capital Markets partnered with Kyle Kovac and Mike Taquino of CBRE’s Bay Area Capital Markets and Trask Leonard of Bayside Realty Partners to advise the seller. Zack Holderman and Jesse Greshin of CBRE’s Healthcare Debt and Structured Finance team secured the financing for the purchaser.

Located at 75 Rowland Way, Rowland Medical Plaza is a fully leased, Class A MOB adjacent to Sutter Health’s 47-bed Novato Community Hospital. “This is a highly strategic outpatient facility for the anchor tenant, MarinHealth, who has made significant investments and a long-term commitment to this location,” said Bodnar. “Healthcare investors continue to gravitate toward the resiliency and growth of the healthcare real estate sector as demonstrated by this transaction.”

The deal represented Stockdale’s sixth acquisition of its recently formed, U.S.-focused, open-ended Healthcare Real Estate Investment Fund

Blackhawk, LLC recently completed the $1.7 million investment purchase of a medical office building located at 4702-4706 NE Glisan Street in Portland, Oregon.

Tim Pfeiffer with Portland-based Norris & Stevens, Inc. represented the Buyer, and John Fezler, Nathan Oakley, and Nathan Sasaki with Apex Real Estate Partners, LLC represented the Seller, Providence Health & Services – Oregon, in the transaction.

Constructed in 1912, the approximately 7,815 square-foot single-tenant office building features a mix of open space, private offices, and a conference room. The property includes an ADA entrance and multiple ADA restrooms, as well as off-street parking.

The two-story property is located on NE Glisan Street across from Providence Portland Hospital, with convenient access to I-84, I-205 and Portland International Airport.

Joint venture partners Remedy Medical Properties and Kayne Anderson Real Estate today announced the acquisition of the Atrium Medical Center Medical Outpatient Building. CBRE brokered the transaction.

The five-story, 103,175-square-foot medical office building, located at 200 Medical Center Dr. in Middletown, Ohio, was built in 2007 and is attached to and directly integrated with the Atrium Medical Center, a 328-bed hospital. It is 85% occupied, anchored by the medical center, which currently leases 70% of the building, as well as three other tenants.

“This was an attractive opportunity to secure a highly visible medical office building directly linked with the dominant acute care hospital in its region,” said Joe Magliochetti, chief investment officer for Remedy. “In addition, the acquisition allows us to further strengthen our existing relationship with Premier Health. The system occupies 170,100 square feet in six additional Remedy-owned buildings, including the award-winning freestanding emergency department we developed for them in Beavercreek, Ohio.”

Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist (AHWFB) is kicking off a Greensboro medical campus by building a $163 million medical office building.

Construction is underway on the Winston-Salem health system’s first project on its property at 2909 Horse Pen Creek Road will be a 134,000-square-foot, five-story medical office building.

It’s expected to include a medical office building, surgery center and cancer center. A $30 million ambulatory surgery center will be housed in the building. Expected to open in 2026, the facility will also include a cancer center and specialty clinics in cardiology, gastroenterology, general surgery and orthopaedics and offer services such as imaging, pharmacy and physical therapy.

The hospital opening date is projected in January 2029.

 JLL has closed the sale of 4004 Kruse Way Place, a 59,865-square-foot medical outpatient building repositioning in Lake Oswego, Oregon. JLL represented the seller, Shorenstein, and procured the buyer, a joint venture between Evergreen Medical Properties and Bain Capital’s real estate team.

4004 Kruse Way Place is located in the Kruse Way submarket near downtown Portland. The three-story property is currently 74% leased and anchored by Providence Health & Services. Currently operating as a traditional office property, the buyer intends to convert the building to a premier outpatient healthcare facility to meet the high demand for medical outpatient space within the submarket.

Evan Kovac, part of JLL’s Capital Markets National Medical Properties group, collaborated closely with Buzz Ellis from the local Pacific Northwest Advisory team, in arranging the sale. JLL’s Debt Advisory team worked on behalf of the buyer to secure acquisition financing. The team was led by Anthony Sardo of the National Medical Properties group and Zach Kersten from the Pacific Northwest Advisory team.

Marcus & Millichap closed the sale of North County Oral & Facial Surgery Center, an 11,400-square-foot single-tenant net-leased medical/surgery office located at 839 E. Grand Ave. in Escondido. The asset sold for $6,150,000.

“The property was held in a partnership, and they wanted to monetize and invest separately,” said Ryan Gonzales, first VP investments in Marcus & Millichap’s San Diego Del Mar office. “The property was widely marketed and drew several offers. The buyers plan to occupy the building and use it as the flagship location of their advanced dental and maxiofacial surgery center.”

Gonzales marketed the property on behalf of the seller, NCOFSC, LLC. The buyer, 839 E Grand, LLC, was also procured by Gonzales. Conor Brennan, SVP investments in the San Diego Downtown office, introduced the seller and provided transaction support.

The JCAHO-compliant ambulatory surgery center is the largest private surgery center in North San Diego County, according to Marcus & Millichap.

Newmark has arranged the sale of 90 Mountain View I, a three-story, 91,082 square-foot, Class A office and medical office project located at 9977 North 90th Street in Scottsdale. The asset sold for $11 million. 

Newmark Executive Managing Directors Barry Gabel, Chris Marchildon and CJ Osbrink represented the seller, Regent Properties. 

Gabel said, “We continue to see robust demand for well-located, high-quality office and medical office properties.” 

Located in the “Scottsdale Cure Corridor,” 90 Mountain View I is within walking distance of the 427-bed HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea Medical Center. At the time of sale, the property was 86% leased. 

Built in 2000 and situated on a 3.32-acre site, the property offers abundant parking, with 4.33 spaces per 1,000 square feet in subterranean, surface and adjacent parking structures.

Regent says it’s a vertically integrated investment manager of premier Sunbelt communities.