Bringing together several locations under one roof, UT Physicians has signed a 139K SF lease in Bellaire Station at 6500 West Loop South, a revamped former office building.

The new office consolidates five Bellaire-area locations for UT Physicians in a bid to reduce patient confusion and boost convenience.

Consolidation plans were originally announced earlier this year. Though the space is larger than a typical medical office building, UT Physicians chose it for its parking availability, location and long, wide corridor that provides ample social distancing.

“We took the challenging initiative to utilize the soft-office market to identify traditional office buildings that could be repurposed for medical office use,” Lisa Bovermann of Transwestern said in a statement. “6500 West Loop South checked a number of boxes, including parking, accessibility and a landlord who was eager to make all the necessary changes to ensure the client’s needs were met.”

Bovermann represented UT Physicians in the deal. Justin Brasell, Doug Little and Ashley Cassel, also of Transwestern, represented the landlord, Capital Commercial Investments.

Bellaire Station is a five-story, 390K SF office building. Upgrades were made to the building as part of lease negotiations, Transwestern said, including more parking, patient drop-off zones, HVAC and elevator improvements, as well as a remodeled lobby.

Transwestern has converted several office buildings to medical use in past years, including a Class-A, 114.4K SF building in west Houston. That building, Greenhouse Medical Plaza at 2051 Greenhouse Road, is across the street from Houston Methodist West Hospital and Texas Children's Hospital West Campus.

As of late summer, medical office supply was scarce in the Houston metro and was expected to remain so for the foreseeable future. Most buildings under construction are already owned by a hospital system or are otherwise pre-leased, posing a problem for healthcare providers looking for swift expansion options. The market is tight to the point where buildings are occupied on the day they are finished, Colliers told Bisnow in August.