Construction is underway on a five-story medical office building that will anchor the Rock Row medical and research campus in Westbrook, Maine, a suburb of Portland. The first tenants are expected to take occupancy in June 2024.
Deciding to relocate from Scarborough, seven miles south of Portland, New England Cancer Specialists signed a lease for the 200,000-square-foot facility at 80 Main St. The lease was signed on Feb. 8, 2022, and was the catalyst for the development. In addition to NECS, Rayus Imaging will be one of the first tenants in the building.
Rock Row owner and developer Waterstone Properties described the decision by the medical practice to move its offices from Scarborough as "one of the most significant achievements" in the progress at Rock Row, a $600 million development that has earned a 2023 CoStar Impact Award, as judged by real estate professionals familiar with the market.
It will be the first private multitenant medical office campus in the greater Portland market in nearly 20 years.
With the medical office market in greater Portland having a vacancy rate of less than 1%, the Rock Row Medical Campus is providing the market with a needed supply of medical office space.
The building is designed with access to a 70-mile walking trail network, on-site healing gardens and a slant toward wellness and prevention and not just treatment. Future tenants to the project will be collaborating with NECS to create a commercial kitchen geared toward the concept of food as medicine, teaching patients how to eat healthy to help enhance their health and well-being. Other tenants will be offering yoga, Reiki and other alternative healthcare services to complement the traditional medical practices on the vibrant campus.
The NECS expansion also encouraged Rayus Imaging to expand in the market and sign a lease to open its most sophisticated imaging suite of services, with MRI units, CAT scan and PET scan services among its offerings.
A special tax-increment financing plan, negotiated by the developers and the city of Westbrook, helped to fund a 670-car public parking garage, which allowed the project to be redesigned to the scale needed to complete it.
About the project: A lease for the New England Cancer Specialists facility at 80 Main St. in Westbrook, Maine, closed on Feb. 8, 2022. The building is five stories and 200,000 square feet. Waterstone Properties Group Inc. owns the property.
What the judges said: "New lease anchoring a significant development in Southern Maine." — Justin Lamontagne, partner and designated broker, The Dunham Group.
"This is an exciting tenant to kick off an exciting medical office building at Rock Row." — Jon Rizzo, broker, The Boulos Co.
They made it happen: Mark Malone, vice president; Joe Malone, founder and president, Malone Commercial Brokers.