Harbert Realty Services, Inc. Announces Groundbreaking of New Medical West Freestanding Emergency Department in Hoover, Alabama

This Hoover-based freestanding facility is the first of its kind in Alabama, bringing together five Alabama businesses on a cutting-edge project.

Medical West, an Affiliate of UAB Health System, is set to break ground on the first Freestanding Emergency Department (FED) in the state of Alabama. Harbert Realty Services, Inc. of Birmingham has been engaged to develop the 24,342 square foot facility near the intersection of Highway 150 and Interstate 459 in Hoover, Alabama. The total investment in the project is $13.5 million, and it will permanently add approximately fifty (50) jobs. The groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, August 28, 2014 at 9:00 am. Media and the public are welcome.

Joining HRS in the project for Medical West will be Medical Properties Trust, Inc., the owner of the FED, Brasfield & Gorrie as the general contractor and Sims Architectural Studio, Inc. as the architect of the development.

Freestanding Emergency Departments are established in other states as an effective means of improving access to high quality emergency services without the large infrastructure of a full hospital facility. The Medical West FED will offer the same quality of service provided by its existing Emergency Room and Emergency Physicians in Bessemer, including convenient outpatient diagnostic services. Medical West is projecting between 12,000-15,000 emergency visits per year. The facility plans to begin operations in Spring 2015.

Medical West has been planning the facility for several years. Keith Pennington, CEO and President of Medical West, stated:

“Medical West is proud to take the leadership role in being the first to offer this new service that will expand healthcare access to the growing Hoover community –the largest community in Alabama without acute healthcare services. Further, we are excited to work with our team of Alabama firms that will bring cutting edge emergency medicine to this area.”

Based in Birmingham, Alabama, Medical Properties Trust, Inc. is currently the largest owner of freestanding emergency facilities in the United States. Edward K. Aldag, Jr., Chairman, President and CEO stated,

“As the largest healthcare REIT in the country focusing solely on hospitals and related facilities, we leaped at this opportunity to create a state of the art facility for such a strong organization in Medical West, and doing it in our own backyard makes this undertaking a point of pride for our organization.”

Harbert Realty Services, also based in Birmingham, has a long history of developing projects that create value for its clients and partners. Additionally, the firm has successfully developed a number of medical facilities for clients and its own portfolio.

“We are very pleased to be working with such great partners as Medical West, Medical Properties Trust, Brasfield & Gorrie and SAS on this project. As the first Freestanding Emergency Department for the state of Alabama, this development is a trendsetter for the region, and we are thrilled to be part of it. Harbert has led the way on many groundbreaking projects over the years, and this is another great collaboration that we will be proud of for decades to come,” according to Norman Tynes, Executive Vice President at Harbert Realty Services.

Brasfield & Gorrie, also based in Birmingham, has a resume of healthcare construction as strong as any general contractor in the nation. The construction firm has already built many of the country’s first freestanding emergency room facilities, and its knowledge base in this domain is second to none. Jack Darnall, Brasfield & Gorrie’s Executive Vice President, shared this:

“Having done so much work with UAB, providing a state of the art facility for Medical West is an honor. Working with both MPT and Harbert Realty in one project has just been a pleasure, because everyone on this team has executed flawlessly.”

The Groundbreaking Ceremony for the development is planned for Thursday, August 28 at 9:00 am. Media and the public are welcome.

Rendering of Medical West Freestanding Emergency Department Intersection of Hwy 150 and I-459 in Hoover, Alabama

Rendering of Medical West Freestanding Emergency Department Intersection of Hwy 150 and I-459 in Hoover, Alabama

About Medical West

Medical West consists of a 310-bed acute care hospital and 14 outpatient health centers serving the communities of West Jefferson County and West Hoover. The hospital offers a wide range of diagnostic, surgical, medical, and emergency services. Hospital services include: a 21-bed Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit, Women’s Center, Telemetry Nursing Unit, Geriatric-Psychiatric Unit, Medical/Surgical units, Surgical Services, Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility, and Advanced Wound Center. The new 24,342 square foot FED development will consist of 10 exam rooms, including: two trauma rooms, CT, X-ray, ultrasound, EKG, laboratory and room for expansion. For more info, please visit the Medical West website at www.medicalwesthospital.org.

About Medical Properties Trust, Inc.

Medical Properties Trust, Inc. is a Birmingham-based self-advised real estate investment trust formed to capitalize on the changing trends in healthcare delivery by acquiring and developing net-leased healthcare facilities. MPT’s financing model allows hospitals and other healthcare facilities to unlock the value of their underlying real estate in order to fund facility improvements, technology upgrades, staff additions and new construction. Facilities include acute care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, long-term acute care hospitals, and other medical and surgical facilities. For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.medicalpropertiestrust.com.

About Brasfield & Gorrie

Celebrating 50 years in business, Brasfield & Gorrie is one of the nation’s largest privately held construction firms, providing general contracting, design-build, and construction management services for a wide variety of markets, including healthcare, commercial, institutional, federal, municipal, industrial, infrastructure, and water/wastewater treatment. We serve clients from offices in Atlanta and Columbus, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama; Dallas, Texas; Jacksonville and Orlando, Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; and Raleigh, North Carolina. Brasfield & Gorrie has approximately 2,600 employees, and its 2013 revenues were $2.3 billion. Engineering News-Record ranks Brasfield & Gorrie 22nd among the nation’s “Top 400 Contractors” for 2014.
About Sims Architectural Studio, Inc.

Sims Architectural Studio, Inc.

(SAS) embodies individuals representing many years of history and experience in the design and construction of a variety of project types. SAS’s staff has a rich background of architectural experiences that range from resort to retail design, master planning and design of schools and government facilities, to the design of institutional facilities. Currently, 90% of SAS’s projects involve the design of healthcare facilities.

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