Sutter to open large medical facility
By Keri Brenner, IJ reporter


New center planned in San Rafael

A major outpatient medical facility will be launched in the "copper top" building at 4000 Civic Center Drive in northern San Rafael.

The 75,000-square-foot medical center, named Sutter Terra Linda Health Plaza, will house medical offices for up to 20 physicians from Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae and Novato Community Hospital - both Marin affiliates of Sacramento-based Sutter Health.

The center, located just off northbound Highway 101 almost midway between the two Marin hospitals, is expected to open next May or June, said Margaret Sabin, chief executive for the two Sutter hospitals.

"The main benefit is access within the community -this is really easy to get to," Sabin said. "We're very pleased and excited - it's a nice marriage between the two hospitals, and it benefits both."

The lease deal was finalized yesterday between Sutter Health officials and the building's owner, BIT Holdings Forty-Five Inc. of Baltimore.

In addition to medical offices for up to 20 physicians, the new facility will house a pharmacy, laboratories, an immediate care facility and administrative offices, Sabin said.

"One of the things we're thrilled with is parking - there's plenty of parking," Sabin said.

"We're really excited when we can do a project where community needs can be met," she said.

The new medical center will occupy the first two floors of the four-story building. San Rafael-based design software company Autodesk Inc., which formerly leased the entire building, will consolidate its operations on the third and fourth floors.

Autodesk officials announced in October 2001 they were placing more than 62,000 square feet of the building up for sublease in a cost-cutting measure. Subsequently, however, they bought out of the sublease obligation, so Sutter Health is leasing the medical center space directly from BIT Holdings, said Brian Eisberg of Orion Partners Ltd., who represented the landlord in the deal along with Orion broker Haden Ongaro.

"This is a great thing for Sutter patients - it's one stoplight off the freeway and you're not having to drive through neighborhoods," said Steve Leonard, a partner with Meridian Commercial Inc. in Larkspur. Meridian agent Trevor Buck represented Sutter Health in the negotiations.

"It's great for San Rafael residents who will now have these medical facilities close to where they live," Ongaro said. "It also will have a positive impact on the office market because a large vacancy will be filled."

Eisberg said the deal was "probably one of the largest leases of office space in San Rafael in at least the last three years."

The new facility will be a sizeable addition to Sutter Health's existing Marin properties. Marin General stretches over 277,000 square feet; Novato Community is 74,000 square feet, Sabin said. Those figures are for the hospitals themselves, and do not include the auxiliary or adjacent medical buildings.

Earlier this year, the two Sutter hospitals also announced they were expanding their laboratory facilities to include four new satellite labs in Marin. Open so far are: 5 Bon Air, Larkspur; 900 S. Eliseo, Greenbrae; and one at the Northgate mall in San Rafael.

The hospital is also in the process of opening a fourth satellite lab in Strawberry, Sabin said.

Contact reporter Keri Brenner via e-mail at kbrenner@marinij.com