46K-square-foot medical center to be built in Nokomis

A St. Louis real estate company recently broke ground on a medical center in Nokomis. National Real Estate Management Corp. is developing the Coastal Wellness Center along U.S. 41, where construction is expected to begin in mid-October.

The medical center, at 1200 N. Tamiami Trail, will span 46,000 square feet.

Originally, the developer was planning to build retail there, NRE President Matt Renner tells the Business Observer.

“We did a needs study, and we found that medical office was in higher demand,” Renner says. “That’s why we’ve gone down this road.”

His company is very familiar with the territory, Renner says, as it owns the neighboring land that is home to Burger King, Blush Boot Camp, Dunkin and Nokomis Dental Care. It also owns Spanish Lakes mobile home park at 1340 N. Tamiami Trail in Nokomis.

Coastal Wellness Center will be in a “strategic location” off US 41 near but not on the island of Venice that is close to Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s Venice campus, according to Liz Cook, the broker handling leasing for the property.

“Lots of providers don't want to be on the island because of flooding,” says Cook, who is the leasing and brokerage vice president for Flagship Healthcare Properties, which manages more than 7.2 million square feet of health care space nationwide.

So far, Millennium Physician Group is the largest provider that will be leasing space at Coastal Wellness Center, Cook says in an Oct. 10 interview. Millennium Physician Group is a Fort Myers-based primary care organization with more than 900 providers at over 200 locations in Florida.

“We’re working with some other providers,” Cook adds, from imaging to orthopedics. “Providers are expanding from Tampa, Orlando and even out of state to come to this market.”

Naples-headquartered DeAngelis Diamond will oversee construction of the building, which Renner says is projected to be complete by the end of June 2026.

In addition to the medical center property, Renner’s company owns outparcels that he says will be developed in the future.

“We think once the medical office building is built, those outparcels will have more value,” Renner says. His company envisions leasing the parcels to retail entities that have “good synergy with medical office,” like providers of exercise, urgent care or veterinary services.

“We would also be open to … quick service restaurants,” Renner says. “We have Burger King and Dunkin’. We don't have any chicken right now, and chicken is the hot thing, at least in the QSR world.”