Tampa doctor seeks tenants for $6.7 million medical office project

Dr. Seth Forman is all in on Tampa. He was raised here and left to pursue his education, specifically dermatology in medical school, only to find his way back. He is now extending his professional roots so he can raise the profile of his community. 

“I grew up here. I love Tampa,” Forman says.

Forman has been practicing as a dermatologist at ForCare Dermatology off of North Florida Avenue in North Tampa for just over five years. He purchased the land for the practice for $1.25 million in 2019 and built the ForCare Medical Center from scratch for $7.25 million — but was not content to stop there.

The building next door, which would eventually become the 44,522-square-foot Magdalene Center, was in great disrepair when he purchased it for $4.2 million nearly two years ago. He has since made it his personal mission to beautify the property (which has been achieved through $2.5 million in renovations) and enhance the professional offerings in the neighborhood.

Taken in total, that's more than $15 million invested in medical office space in five years.

One way to manifest the vision on Magdalene was to finance the purchase of the property outright. Forman is passionate about not having debt after graduating with quite a bit of it after medical school. “Never again, as soon as possible,” he says. 

By not being beholden to the banks for a mortgage payment, he has the freedom to be intentional in choosing his tenants. “Because I self-financed the entire project, I don't have a bank pressuring me to accept every tenant that may apply to want to be a tenant. So therefore I've been very selective. I'll continue to be selective with that building. Because this is a community building. It's not just renting space.” he says, noting he has turned away businesses that might not have longevity or jibe with the other hand-selected tenants. 

The focus is not just the interior tenants, but the elements of the property that meet the eye as well. Forman’s enthusiasm for water can be seen throughout the property, from a natural pond that was landscaped in the back of Magdalene Center, to a large in-wall aquarium in the lobby of ForCare Medical, to the large fountain seen by the hundreds of cars traversing Florida Avenue each day. The fountain is specifically designed as a focal point meant to beautify the area. 

The stewardship of the commercial land is in anticipation of what Forman believes will be a great wave of companies returning to office. “I think this remote work is not working out exactly the way that companies were hoping it would. People aren't really working and they probably need to be near their managers,” Forman says. “And the other part of returning to the office is that people who are new in their careers aren't getting the mentorship that they need. A lot of times that really needs to be one-on-one settings in person where the greatest impact can be made. I guess I'm old fashioned, but I think it's coming back.” 

Image via LoopNet

When that happens, Forman observes that the void created in office spaces, both new and renovated, during Covid will mean that supply needs to catch up to demand. When that happens, he’ll be ready. 

“The existing spaces that are Class A, and ready for tenants and ready for businesses to grow, we'll be ready to catch those. Those new opportunities, that's where I see the placement for Magdalene Center,” he says.

Currently 11 tenants occupy Magdalene Center. The spaces are customizable for future tenants, with multiple suites available of varying size that can be combined to make a 9,000-square-foot suite or smaller ones that can be a singular 800-square-foot space. While Forman is more concerned with the business being the right fit, he believes businesses focused on primary care, neurology, psychiatry and gastroenterology — to name a few — would serve the surrounding community, made up of about 221,000 residents within a five-mile radius, well. 

“We're ready to accept these new businesses or existing businesses that want to expand or or move in to a very well thought out office park, with well thought out amenities,” Forman says, “I'm very proud of walking into this office every day and I want people to feel that way about the office that we have next door.”