Where Housing Meets Health Care

Mixed-use developments have traditionally entailed a blend of multifamily housing, offices, and square footage devoted to retail and service businesses. But as mixed-use becomes increasingly popular as a design choice for teeming urban enclaves, the concept’s definition has been stretched to include health care facilities as well.

Hospitals derive multiple benefits from the arrangement. Expanding select operations away from their central campuses delivers real estate cost savings. Quality health care can be brought almost literally to the door steps of residents. The residential units in the developments offer homes for some hospital workers. And the healthcare system enjoys a prominent setting to help make the community aware of its services.

“Healthcare facilities are a foundational part of the communities they serve,” says Ann Duginske Cibulka, vice president of real estate development for Ryan Companies, the developer of a new St. Paul, Minn. mixed-use project including a health care center.

“These locations act like airports. Once established, they rarely close and they provide an enduring service to those living nearby. Healthcare will continue to be integrated into new, mixed-use developments because they’re the epicenters for communities. Being located just minutes from patients’ doorsteps is critical to attaining and retaining patients. Healthcare providers want to be connected to commercial hubs for visibility and accessibility, being as convenient as possible for patients.”

Prime example

One example of this intersection of housing and health care will be found at Ogden Commons, in the low-income North Lawndale community on Chicago’s West Side.

The Windy City’s largest Opportunity Zone project, the $200 million, mixed-use endeavor will spread across a 10-acre site, providing 350 mixed-income apartments and 120,000 square feet of commercial and retail space. The first-phase, three-story commercial building was completed in 2021, and is now open and at full capacity.

Among entities filling the space is Sinai Health System’s new One Lawndale Community Care & Surgery Center. Worth noting: Sinai Health System is among the development partners in Ogden Commons, alongside The Habitat Company, Cinespace Chicago Film Studios and the Chicago Housing Authority. The development will serve up new housing for Sinai employees and provide quality health care steps from where many patients live. Residential units will break ground this year.

Health care access is frequently a significant hurdle for low-income families, and many lower-skilled health care workers face headwinds locating homes they can afford, says Jeff Head, vice president of development for The Habitat Company’s Habitat Affordable Group. “At Ogden Commons, the development concept revolved around the idea of a virtuous circle where lower-wage workers have access to housing, low-income residents have access to jobs, and all would have access to the broad range of healthcare services provided by Sinai Health System,” he reported.

Added Dr. Alicia Steed, executive vice president and COO for Sinai Health System: “We have received positive feedback from both people in the neighborhood and patients that the services and experiences are convenient, accessible and affordable, helping avoid unnecessary emergency department visits and waiting times. Patient experience surveys have been favorable with positive reviews.”

All incomes

In St. Paul, Ryan Companies is developing Highland Bridge, an ambitious 122-acre mixed-use development to rise on a parcel along the Mississippi River where a Ford Motor Company assembly plant once stood. The project features a 60,000-square-foot healthcare facility called Highland Bridge Medical Office anchored by premier regional health system M Health Fairview.

Slated to open this March, Highland Bridge Medical Office will serve residents of the surrounding community, as well as the 8,500 new residents of all ages and incomes who are expected to move into Highland Bridge over the coming decade.

“For healthcare providers, dense growth is key when it comes to selecting strategic real estate locations,” Cibulka says. “Real estate developers can help healthcare providers by forecasting where dense growth is expected.”

This post first appeared on Forbes.com. To see the original, click here.