The demand for wellness amenities in commercial real estate is reaching critical mass across all property types. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated consumer interest in health and wellness, rapidly spilling into the real estate industry. There has been a greater understanding of the built environment’s role in health and well-being, prompting increased interest in enhancing indoor air quality and wellness-related building certification, to name a few areas.
According to a recent GWI report, annual wellness real estate amenities expenditures increased from $225 billion in 2019 to $438 billion last year. Expenditures are expected to double again in global value to $913 billion by 2028. A recent Cushman and Wakefield survey of 50 of the largest office leases by rentable square footage in 2022 examined the most common amenities. They included onsite fitness centers, outdoor courtyards, and shower/locker facilities.
Some amenities in the realm of wellness in commercial real estate are more unusual. Los Angeles-based real estate group Balaciano Group has installed cold plunge tubs at several multifamily communities. Cold plunges are a relatively new and trendy wellness activity that increases blood circulation, reduces inflammation, and boosts immune function.
Medical services have become another uncommon but sought-after luxury wellness amenity, especially after the pandemic. CC Homes in South Florida has even started offering telemedicine services to homebuyers. They do so through a partnership with Baptist Health South Florida, a nonprofit healthcare network with ten hospitals and over 100 outpatient centers.
CC Homes homeowners can access a one-year membership to Baptist Health Care on Demand, which includes unlimited virtual urgent care visits and the TytoCare digital diagnostic device. This device allows doctors to remotely monitor heart rates and temperatures and conduct skin, ear, and throat examinations.
The service debuted in December 2019 at Canarias, a luxury CC Homes community in Miami’s downtown Doral neighborhood, and expanded across other communities as the pandemic unfolded. Developers have always focused on wellness, like yoga classes, gyms, and rooftop gardens, but actual healthcare was rarely a part of the equation. CC Homes’ virtual home healthcare service offering, and others like it, are the start of a new trend.
Multifamily communities in Florida have become hot spots for onsite medical services, which makes sense. Florida’s older population naturally lends to more demand for healthcare. The state is also a popular destination for medical tourism, and it has a considerable foreign-born community that may find navigating the American healthcare system challenging.
Since the pandemic, the trend of integrating medical services into luxury properties has increased momentum in Florida. The Ritz-Carlton Residences in Miami Beach, which already provided on-demand medical concierge services, dramatically increased usage during COVID-19.
Meanwhile, Royal Palm Companies is taking it further with the Legacy Hotel and Residences in downtown Miami. This 50-story tower will feature the 100,000-square-foot Center for Health + Performance across its first eight floors. It offers everything from labs and doctors’ offices to an onsite pharmacy.
Construction on the property is on hold for now, but it promises to be the world’s first Blue Zones Center. It will offer world-class medical services and luxury wellness amenities, such as heart monitors in the lobby, enabling guests to check their pulse, and a ‘Tranquility pool area’ overlooking downtown Miami.
‘Blue Zone’ has become one of the most popular buzzwords in the wellness industry. It was coined two decades ago by Dan Buettner, a National Geographic explorer who investigated places around the world where people live to 100 years old and beyond. Blue Zones have since become another real estate certification, and developers are taking inspiration from it, even if they are not officially seeking it.
In some cases, Blue Zones look more like a marketing strategy and have little to do with the modest way of life the philosophy is meant to reflect. Regardless, many properties, like Miami’s Legacy Hotel and Residences, take the principles behind the Blue Zone theory seriously.
A multifamily Rx
The trend of medical services in real estate isn’t limited to Florida. Related Companies responded to the pandemic in New York by partnering with Sollis Health to offer onsite COVID-19 and antibody testing for residents at more than a dozen properties.
Madison House, a luxury condo building in New York, offers residents a full membership to Sollis Health at signing. Tenants can request house calls, access telemedicine, or visit Sollis medical centers in Tribeca or the Upper East Side. Patient advocates guide residents to the best doctor if they need a specialist.
Founded in 2016, Sollis Health has more than 17,000 members of its concierge medical services across clinics in New York, California, and Florida. The company primarily earns money through annual membership fees covering most of the services provided. Sollis doesn’t exclusively cater to the wealthy, but some have described it as “concierge medicine on steroids. “Its celebrity clients include Chris Rock, Sting, and Ralph Lauren.
Sollis will provide members-only medical concierge services at Glass House Boca Raton in Florida, a ten-story luxury development with residences priced from $2.5 million to over $6 million. Glass House Boca Raton launched sales in February, and construction is expected to be complete in autumn 2026.
Through the partnership with Sollis Health, Glass House residents can access 24/7 telemedicine visits, expedited specialist access, and unlimited access to medical centers in South Florida, New York, and California.
Luxury multifamily communities aren’t the only properties offering medical services. In 2020, Shift Capital, developer of a 100-unit affordable housing development in Philadelphia, began offering residents a new discount prescription and telemedicine service called Health+.
Priced at a mere $10 per month per unit, Health+ works to create a bridge between Shift’s residents and two other companies, Clever RX and Teladoc Health. Clever RX is a discount prescription drug card, and Teladoc Health connects patients 24 hours a day to one of 3,2000 board-certified doctors via voice or video calls.
You’ll need doctors…and lawyers
The benefits of services like this seem clear and can be attractive to potential residents. Due to social distancing, telehealth exploded in popularity during the pandemic. Even with the pandemic in the rearview mirror, concierge medicine continues to grow in popularity. The pandemic squeezed primary care practices and forced many clinics to close, and many physicians moved to the newer, more reliable concierge care model.
One market research firm estimated concierge medical revenue will increase by 10.4 percent annually through 2030. With the worsening national shortage of primary care doctors and wait lists growing longer, more Americans are willing to pay for the privilege of concierge care. Multifamily landlords, especially luxury properties, are latching on to the trend. However, landlords are advised to proceed cautiously as this less common wellness amenity grows.
Medical services in residential communities come with potential challenges. Without access to a patient’s complete medical history or coordination with their primary care physician, these services could lead to unintended consequences. Most healthcare systems prioritize keeping patients within a cohesive network, where decisions are made based on comprehensive background information.
Additionally, with most major U.S. healthcare systems already offering telehealth, adding telemedicine as a housing amenity might be redundant. Instead of filling gaps in care, it could disrupt the continuity of care, potentially complicating patient outcomes.
Multifamily landlords must also consider the legal implications of medical care as a wellness amenity. Real estate attorneys advise that if a landlord incorporates medical services for residents’ use, it’s crucial to notify the residents in writing that the services are for convenience only. They are not acting as a medical provider. Without doing so, the landlord could be subject to claims for the unlicensed practice of medicine or malpractice claims.
Multifamily landlords looking to incorporate healthcare amenities should consult real estate attorneys and insurance experts to assess potential liabilities and establish effective risk management strategies. It’s critical that landlords partner with top-tier healthcare organizations to ensure these medical services are both safe and reliable, safeguarding residents and minimizing risks associated with offering such high-stakes amenities.
Medical services have emerged as a new offering in the multifamily amenities arms race, and it will be interesting to see how this trend develops in the next few years. The pandemic turbo-charged interest in health and wellness, so the fusion of multifamily and medical providers makes sense in this context.
Landlords considering offering this amenity must weigh their options carefully due to various legal considerations. American consumers are more health-conscious than ever, and medical services could be an amenity that becomes a differentiator in the multifamily sector if implemented correctly.
