Easterly Government JV Closes on Jacksonville VA Clinic

September 4, 2024

Medical Office Investment Jacksonville NewsMoreSoutheast

The property is the last to be purchased as part of a 10-asset portfolio.

Rendering of VA clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. — The VA clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. came online in April 2024. *Rendering courtesy of Hoefer Welker*

Easterly Government Properties, in a joint venture with a global investor, has completed the acquisition of a 193,100-square-foot medical office building leased to the Department of Veterans Affairs in Jacksonville, Fla. The property is the tenth and last facility to be purchased as part of a 2021 portfolio transaction in which U.S. Federal Properties Co. was the seller.

The North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System broke ground on the $64.2 million Jacksonville project in December 2021 and completed it in April this year. The developer acquired the construction site for $8.4 million in 2020, according to CommercialEdge data.

The property features a domiciliary that provides housing for veterans in need of substance abuse treatment or full-time care. The clinic offers various services such as physical therapy, prosthetics, occupational therapy, rehabilitation medicine and traumatic brain injury treatment.

The 21.6-acre facility is at 145 Heron Bay Road and provides access to interstates 95 and 295. Downtown Jacksonville is some 13 miles south of the property. Other medical facilities in the surrounding area include UF North Health, Millennium Physician Group and Coastal Medical Plaza, among others.

VA clinic serving the Jacksonville area

The 1.2 million-square-foot portfolio consisted of 10 outpatient clinics leased to the VA for 20 years on average. The joint venture acquired the group of assets for a total of $635.6 million.

The Class A facilities are located in several states across the U.S., such as Kansas, Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, Arizona, Alabama and Florida. Last year in September, the partnership closed on its ninth clinic, the 69,276-square-foot facility in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Easterly owns a total of 94 assets totaling 9.2 million square feet. In another major transaction that took place in late 2022, the REIT sold $205.3 million worth of commercial properties leased to the U.S. government.