Medical School Acquires El Paso Facility through CBRE

By Anca Gagiuc, Associate Editor

Rebecca Rojas, CBRE El Paso

El Paso, Texas—Pima Medical Institute’s expansion plans are materializing. The school acquired an approximately 40,000-square foot building in El Paso, Texas to expand its medical career course offerings.

The school will relocate from a smaller campus on Burnham Road to the former Saddleblanket Co. building at 6926 Gateway Blvd. East in late fall 2016, once renovations are complete. “We chose this location due to its central proximity to our student population and employer partners,” said Pima Medical Institute President & CEO Fred Freedman. “We plan to create spacious, hands-on learning laboratories and classrooms inside the building, which will foster real-world learning.”

Pima Medical Institute was represented in the site search and negotiations by Rebecca Rojas with CBRE’s El Paso office and by Nancy McClure with CBRE’s Tucson office. The financial details of the transaction were undisclosed.

“With Pima Medical’s main goal of adding education programs to increase opportunities for El Pasoans, our primary objectives in the site search were to find a larger building in an accessible location from the Interstate with plenty of parking. Our options were very limited until we learned of the opportunity at the Saddleblanket building. From start to finish, in less than a year, we secured a location that checked all the boxes,” said Rebecca Rojas.

When Anamarc College closed in June 2014, Pima Medical began teaching the former college’s 76 occupational therapy assistant students. The El Paso facility represents Pima Medical Institute fourth renovation project as a result of helping other colleges that were facing closures.

Image courtesy of CBRE