In a bid to attract medical specialists to western El Dorado County, Dr. Brian Kelly Hunt is developing a two-story, 33,000-square-foot medical office building in El Dorado Hills. Courtesy Brian Kelly Hunt
Seeing a disconnect between western El Dorado County residents and available health care, Dr. Brian Kelly Hunt has a project in the works to address it.
Work should start in February on a two-story, 33,000-square-foot medical office building at 8105 Saratoga Way in El Dorado Hills, Hunt said Monday.
“There’s a lack of health care resources in El Dorado Hills, even El Dorado County,” said Hunt, a doctor who specializes in anesthesiology and pain management and a 20-year El Dorado Hills resident. The county also had relatively few parcels zoned for medical uses, but Saratoga Way had a few of them.
Hunt said his first move was helping get an outpatient surgery center built in recent years on land next door to 8105 Saratoga.
“Having done that, this property was available, and getting so much positive feedback from the community and local leaders, this gets more access to doctors closer to home,” he said
Visible from nearby Highway 50, the new building will work with the surgery center by allowing patients to make follow-up appointments without traveling to Roseville, Folsom or Sacramento.
To ground the project locally, Hunt got other medical professionals to invest in and commit their offices to fill about half the newly planned building. That includes specialists in physical therapy and gastroenterology, he said.
TRI Commercial brokers Robb Osborne and Cole Sweatt will work on leasing the rest, with an emphasis on doctors and other health care providers with specialties not already found in the area, Hunt said.
“We believe it’s the best real estate on the 50 corridor in terms of visibility,” Osborne said, adding there’s interest in the available space before construction has started.
GP Development Inc. of Roseville will be the general contractor for the project, which should be completed in November 2021. Hunt said between construction and tenant improvements, he’d estimate the cost at about $500 per square foot, or a total project cost of about $16.5 million.
About 30% of the profits from the building will go toward area nonprofits, Hunt said. Along with the local ownership, that’s a way to make the building more tied to the community.
“We’re trying to get services El Dorado Hills and El Dorado County doesn’t have currently,” he said. “It’s not a project where we’re looking to flip and make money on it.”