Work progresses on medical centre
Construction on site which includes retirement home could be completed by late fall of 2023
Progress continues to be made on a 1.6-hectare Montrose Road property that will be home to a medical arts centre and retirement residence.
Site-servicing work began about March 2021 on the land near McLeod Road, next to MacBain Community Centre, and across from the Lowe’s plaza.
Frank Deluca, chief executive officer of DCL Healthcare Properties Inc., said passersby will notice a structure is up, which is for the “Marriot-style seniors residency” being developed by Reichmann International Development Corp.
“Their model is they’ve got to build it and then lease it,” said Deluca.
“Our model is a little different where we’ve got to get the (lease) commitments and then we come out of the ground.”
He said construction on the retirement residence could be completed by late fall 2023, which would be in line with the expected completion of the medical arts centre.
The four-storey, raised medical building will have 39 units. Being a condo-style development, 65 per cent of the building needs to be leased before construction can start, said Deluca, who predicted that target could be met by fall.
“A lot of people have seen this site sit around for quite a while — no one really understands how long it takes to get these types of things going,” he said.
A medical project was first proposed for the property in 2014, when Deluca put a trailer there to promote the development. He said his initial partners and shareholders had a different vision for the project.
He said he bought them out and found a strategic partner that would develop a retirement residence on one side of the property.
He severed part of the land and sold it to Reichmann. Deluca said DCL Healthcare Properties Inc. has reached a 20year deal, plus options, with Sentry Health to be the anchor tenant of the DCL Niagara Medical Arts
Centre, occupying 50 per cent of the ground floor with its urgent care and pharmacy.
Peter Vuong, co-founder of Sentry Health, said the company is an integrated health-care provider, helping clinicians to “manage their patients and their practices through consolidation.”
“We acquire medical clinics under one roof, we implement technology and engagement solutions, and we use a very proactive, innovative approach to preventative care,” he said.
“Our passion really is recasting the way medicine is traditionally practised, with a focus on prevention, and proactive patient engagement.
“We’re trying to develop the Cleveland Clinic-like experience, but the public health edition.”
Vuong said urgent care will also be paired with a family practice.
The plan is for the medical centre to have professionals from various disciplines, including cardiology, geriatrics, endocrinology and diagnostics.
Vuong said discussions have also been had with dentists, chiropractors and physiotherapists who are “ready to jump on board as they know they have an anchor.”
Deluca said while Sentry Health won’t occupy the whole building, it’s “leading the way in the dialogue of how all these practitioners integrate into one holistic environment.”
He said the goal is to not have “overlapping services and literally going out and targetting services we need that integrate with the whole health-care delivery model.”
Deluca said the entire project is estimated at between $65 million and $75 million.