Local commercial real estate developers recently held a buyer symposium to revive a proposed medical complex on E.G. Miles Parkway.

Development co-owner Kent Pedrick teamed with Coldwell Banker Commercial Holtzman, Realtors to pitch the Hinesville Professional Center to medical professionals.

Hinesville Pharmacy now occupies the front portion of the 7.27-acre office park, which has nine pads available and 63,600 feet of proposed class-A office space.

Realtor Jimmy Shanken said the property has been marketed previously but that his firm is in the process of boosting its visibility in the medical industry due to its proximity to Liberty Regional Medical Center.  

Savannah Neurology Specialists representative Joanne Johansen attended the event to learn more about the possibility of opening a Hinesville branch.

“We treat a very large military population. We treat both active duty families and retired military,” she said.

The practice, which has offices in Effingham County and Bluffton, S.C., just went through a merger and will have 12 doctors by the end of the year.

“We’re looking for where to place those doctors in the community, and we feel like we have a large military population and have a commitment to serving them, so we thought we would look at Hinesville,” she said, adding that they are only at the speculative stage.

And Johansen’s practice is not the only business looking. This proposed park bridges the gap because it has infrastructure and building pads and the potential for people to lease or own, the developers said.

Shanken said there’s a lot of curiosity and looking in the commercial real estate industry now, but that there’s a market shift toward leasing instead of building.

“The demand is there, the issue is lack of available retail space, and the lack of funds to build the retail space,” Shanken said. “I had a gentleman call today looking for 4,000 square-feet of class-A retail space, and it’s not available.”

Speakers at the seminar offered an overview of the development from architecture and construction to financing, accounting and legal options for business owners.