HEMET
Supporters say the eight-building medical campus now under construction in the western part of the city is part of the answer to the need for more medical choices now and in the future.
Four buildings in the first phase of the planned Hemet Center for Medical Excellence are located just west of Sanderson and Stetson Avenues, next to the Hemet Wal-Mart.
First phase of the 124,000-square-foot project is budgeted at $23 million. Completion of the remaining four buildings will depend on market conditions, said Edward Anderson, partner at Medical Real Estate Development.
Menifee-based MRE Development is a fast-growing medical office developer that has done or is working on projects in Temecula, Corona, Redlands, Rancho Mirage, and Chula Vista.
One of the buildings under construction already has been pre-purchased by Hemet-based Inland Eye Specialists.
According to plans, the medical offices and suites would be complemented by gardens, fountains and a pedestrian friendly connection between the buildings. The center would also include workout facilities for doctors and staff and an onsite coffee shop, a bakery and sandwich shop. Construction began last year and is expected to be completed by May.
"From a community standpoint, this development is going to be an asset," said Carl Anzaldi, executive director of Hemet-San Jacinto Economic Development Corp., which works to attract business into the valley.
Anzaldi said the new medical facility would boost health choices for residents, as well as help attract jobs and new technology into the area.
Hemet Mayor Marc Searl said the medical campus would help serve an area that needs all the medical services it can get.
"Historically, our area is a haven for seniors, but now we have more families here, too, and they need medical care," he said.
About 141,892 residents live within a five-mile radius of Hemet's core, and that number is expected to reach more than 163,000 by 2013, according to city estimates.
The still rapid growth and growing diversity of the area is one of the reasons for locating the campus in Hemet, said Edward Anderson, partner at MRE Development.
"There's a huge demand from the older population and when the housing market picks up again, there's going to be a lot of families demanding health care," he said.
He said the community is largely underserved by medical offices, with many of them located in the central part of the city, which is where Hemet Valley Medical Center is located.
He noted that many medical professionals work out of converted houses or crowded office facilities.
Anderson said a medical campus could help bring together medical professionals and make it easier for residents to access health care.
"There's a certain amount of synergy when (medical services) are on the same campus," Anderson said.
