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Vol. LXIII, No. 43
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
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Vol. LXIII, No. 43
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
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 RIGHT PLACE: “Our company started out as a brokerage, offering full-service commercial real estate opportunities, handling all phases of retail, office, industrial, and land acquistion. Then it evolved into a focus on offices for healthcare professionals.” John Mastrosimone (left), COO, and John Simone, President of Simone Realty, Inc., believe they “have been in the right place at the right time.” |
Helping physicians and other healthcare professionals find suitable office space is the mission of Simone Realty, Inc., located at 100 Federal City Road in Lawrenceville.
“There are not a lot of office buildings strictly for medical purposes,” explains COO John Mastrosimone. “There is a need for new medical office buildings. There are buildings with doctors in them, and buildings just for doctors. When the building is exclusively for doctors, they do well with referrals from other physicians because they are together in the building. It’s a kind of synergy.
“We are also in a good area, near a lot of hospitals; Robert Wood Johnson, St. Francis, Princeton Medical Center, and Capital Health System. We are focused in central New Jersey, but we also cover the entire state as well as part of Pennsylvania. We expect to expand our coverage as the need continues to grow,”
Adds President John Simone — and Mr. Mastrosimone’s father: “These are satellite offices. The hospitals will often rent them for their physicians. The hospital is the tenant, and puts the doctors in the office.”
Family History
“We have always been focused on commercial real estate,” he continues. “My father was a developer and also owned businesses. In time, we started to emphasize healthcare development, especially for the past eight years. We began to see a trend identifying a real need for healthcare offices. And we have established a good reputation with physicians.”
Indeed, the Simone name has had a strong family history in real estate over the years — actually, in more ways than one. When the first Mr. Mastrosimone (the current Mr. Mastrosimone’s great-grandfather) came from Italy to Ellis Island, there was a misunderstanding about his name. The officials registered it as “Mr. Simone”. Now, John Mastrosimone serves as COO, and his father, John Simone, is President of the company.
Simone Realty buys, develops, and rents properties, also buys and renovates existing buildings, and provides project management. With its in-depth knowledge of the healthcare industry, it is seeking to identify the most advantageous locations for doctors’ offices, depending on the area’s need for for specialists, population and patient profiling, and medical insurance coverage.
Healthcare is a huge issue, of course. Whether it’s insurance or need for more doctors or the latest breakthrough, it’s in the news daily. And healthcare will remain a growing concern as the population ages.
Strategic Process
“The demand for medical services is continually increasing, and it is expected that with the onset of Baby Boomers moving into the 55-year-old-plus age group, the continued demands on the medical services market place will require great selectivity of where those services are performed,” says Mr. Mastrosimone. “Instead of just selecting real estate with a slant towards location only, Simone Realty has raised the bar by focusing concurrent attention on the medical requirements within a business-driven approach. Each medical practice is unique, and Simone Realty works with physician and healthcare organizations to better understand those intricacies and offer supportive solutions.
“Site selection for healthcare, as a developer or user, is a strategic process that borrows fundamentals from the retail sector, and must consider not only the goals and objectives of the client practice but also be able to understand its target market and the competitive landscape,” he continues.
“Simone Realty is working diligently to capitalize on the failure today of private developers who have done a poor job keeping pace with the local and regional hospitals in providing appropriate facilities that support today’s service delivery practices.
“Also,” he points out, “Simone Realty’s focus on enhancing physicians profitability should not be underestimated. We are able to recruit specific medical practices to winning locations and position them for growth. Matching medical services with current and projected patient needs creates a strong on-site referral network between healthcare professionals and significantly enhances practice profitability.”
Greater Need
“We really recognize the needs of physicians,” points out Mr. Simone. “We give them a lot for their money, including an infrastructure. Offices, labs, etc. Once the building is in place, then we customize the space for the physicians’ special needs — X-rays, examination tables, technological testing equipment, etc. Our buildings have good parking and also emergency access for ambulances.”
With the consensus that there will be greater need for healthcare services in general in the future, Mr. Mastrosimone is energized about his role in this challenging field. “I enjoy the constant change. No two transactions are alike. You can have two identical buildings on two different properties, and one works and one doesn’t. It’s a constant puzzle. There are a lot of lessons to be learned and a lot of moving parts in development: dealing with the professional layer of government, the residents, etc. The challenge is to get everything to move together smoothly. There are a lot of complexities.”
“We meet so many people,” adds his father. “It’s such a cross-section — professionals, architects, builders, tradespeople, and the tenants. I enjoy the stimulation.”
They are both encouraged that the company has new projects on the horizon, and that they are also offering a new opportunity for doctors to enter into a partnership and buy equity in the building. “Then, the physicians can share in the profits,” points out Mr. Mastrosimone. “I think we’re a unique company. We really add value by advising on site locations, and I am always encouraged by the fact that we are a family business. We are moving forward as a team. We can see something that we have achieved. And now, we want to be leaders in the healthcare environment.”
Simone Realty can be reached at (609) 882-1105. Website: www.simonerealty.com.