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Helping Healthcare Practices Find the Right Space with Mark Brodson of Resource Commercial Advisors 9-29-25
00:08:35
In this episode, Mark Brodson, President and Managing Broker of Resource Commercial Advisors, shares how his firm helps healthcare providers, including DSOs and direct primary care practices, navigate real estate from site selection to lease management.
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- [00:00]
A
This is Scott Becker with the Becker Business Podcast and the Becker Private Equity Podcast. We're thrilled today to be joined by a brilliant leader. We're joined today by Mark Brodson. Mark is in the healthcare commercial real estate area. He's going to tell us what he does, what trends he's watching and a lot more. And just a great pleasure to visit with Mark. It turns out that we have many mutual acquaintances and close, close friends and just thrilled to visit with Mark today. Mark, can you take a moment and introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what you do?
- [00:30]
B
Sure. Well, first of all, Scott, thank you very much for having me on the program. I appreciate it. So my name is Mark Brodson. Our company is Resource Commercial Advisors. We're based in Northbrook, Illinois. We are a boutique commercial real estate brokerage firm that does healthcare oriented real estate nationwide. And we do that through our network of what we call correspondent brokers, smaller independent healthcare focused brokers that we go and vet all over the country.
- [01:00]
A
And talk to us a little bit. When you say healthcare focused, give us a sense of the types of facilities, medical office buildings, what type of stuff are you working with?
- [01:08]
B
Yes, so our bread and butter is tenant representation work and we like to work on those mid sized healthcare companies so they can be DSOs, they can be private equity backed. We usually love the sweet spot of five to 20 or 30 locations because that's where a lot of the growth is. And typically companies of that size aren't big enough to have their own in house real estate people. And so we dive in and have everything that they need covered. So time is one of their biggest challenges. So we handle everything from site selection through to turnkey. We're very different than most brokers in that regard because a lot of brokers will find a space, sign a lease, close, collect their commission and walk away.
- [01:56]
A
Right. You're really working with companies over a longer period of time. Multi site operators. Often the DSO is a perfect space where somebody's a newer entrant into market, they're trying to open 10 offices in the next year, the next couple years. And you guys sort of handle that from beginning to end to help them make that make sense.
- [02:14]
B
Yes, that is correct. And what we find is it isn't just about opening the new locations, it's also about maintaining the existing leases. So an average medical lease is about 10 years. So you figure if you have 20 locations or 30 locations, you have two to three leases that are coming up for renewal every year. And particularly with our plumbing heavy tenants like dental, those folks. It's very expensive to find and relocate a space, and it takes six months to a year to get that actually done.
- [02:48]
A
Then your patient base has to find you again as well, and you've got those kinds of issues and challenges. How did you get into this area to begin with?
- [02:55]
B
Well, actually, I've been in real estate since 2006 in commercial. In 2013, a good attorney friend of mine, Todd Erdman, he does medical leases and basically had lunch with me and said, hey, I'm trying to recruit good brokers to come in and focus on medical. So that was in 2013. We started off building our dental relationships, and then it grew from there to where we are today. Dental is still a core piece of our business. We're also working behavioral health. We do a lot of autism therapy, urgent care, primary care. And what I would say is hot today is dpm. Direct pay medicine.
- [03:36]
A
Sure, sure, sure, sure, sure. And right in direct primary care. Direct paid medicine.
- [03:42]
B
Yes. Which is concierge medicine in a different.
- [03:45]
A
Yes, 100%. There's a huge shortage of primary care. It seems like every primary care physician is moving towards concierge, and you can't blame them because it's the. The traditional practice model for primary care ended up being somewhat broken and very, very challenging people moving towards concierge. And your work is national?
- [04:01]
B
Yes, we work nationally. So right now we're working in about 20 different states. And again, it's through our network of correspondent brokers that enables us to leverage our skills. But with our national network, we're not just handing them off to our brokers in Cleveland or in Dallas. We maintain the relationship with the client, so there's consistency of relationship there. And we rely on our correspondent partners to be feet on the street, knowledgeable about the market.
- [04:31]
A
And does your business largely come from private equity funds that have sponsored companies that try and put you in touch with their sponsored companies, or does it more come from the sponsored companies that you get to know at different events and visiting and so forth?
- [04:44]
B
Yes. Great question. The answer is yes and yes. We've probably done less of the private equity side and more of the sponsored company side. And what we find is we actually get into the private equity milieu by starting to work with the sponsored companies and then they get acquired. And when they get acquired, it's those relationships that we've built that then grow and expand to be on the larger private equity corporate level.
- [05:11]
A
You've done a great job as a founder, a leader. Give us a key to success. Give us A key to success. High responseness, high connectivity, really knowing what people are doing. What are some of the keys to success when you think about it?
- [05:24]
B
Yeah, good question. It's really listening to what the client's needs are and being patient to recognize that you're not always going to get the right space found on the first try. Some of our clients we actually work with for 18 months or two years until we actually find the right space. And while that might seem arduous, that is a huge key to success. It's persistence and giving your clients the level of service that they need to be able to succeed.
- [05:51]
A
Talk for a moment. We saw one big business locate in what ended up being the absolute wrong area. And they would have been far better off waiting 18 to 20 months to find the right space. Talk about that discipline and how hard that is to push and so much, particularly in dental in certain areas. Well, location could be very, very important, just like the old adage in real estate. But talk about how people can make that era of being so rushed to get excited about a spot that they close on it.
- [06:19]
B
Yes, very much so. We're actually not afraid to tell our clients, hey, you might want to look at this. You might think that there's something here that is great. But we always point out the good, the bad and the ugly of a site. Because my philosophy is I'd far rather have you get into a space after time that you're satisfied with than make a financially huge mistake that could ultimately hinder the future growth of the company.
- [06:47]
A
And we've seen that time and time again where people have gotten into too big a space, the wrong space, and it's really been a hindrance to the long term business. Because once you sign a 5, 10, 15 year lease, you're sort of stuck with that space. And there's often guarantees, there's often other kind of pieces to it. It's very hard to move and close that space.
- [07:03]
B
Yes, and it's interesting you mentioned that 5, 10 and 15 year lease. So we actually negotiate our leases from that perspective. We recognize that it's not all about can I squeeze every last drop of value out of the turnip? Because we recognize that once that lease is signed, there's a relationship that has to exist between the tenant and the landlord. And therefore we can't erode all that goodwill in the upfront negotiations.
- [07:29]
A
And the tenant, as much as possible, needs as little friction as possible with their landlords. They need to focus on running their business. They don't need the distraction of friction with the landlord.
- [07:39]
B
That's correct. And you absolutely have to focus on business. And it's interesting you bring that up because from a business standpoint, we approach all of our clients from the perspective of your number one goal is to provide great patient care. We take all of the real estate challenges and headaches off your plate to facilitate that.
- [08:01]
A
Thank you. And Mark, one final question. Where can people learn about resource commercial advisors?
- [08:07]
B
Yes. Well, we have a website, resourcecommercial.net and that will basically take you through all of our process, our core values as a company. And it'll really show the approach that we take to helping medical professionals find the right space for their businesses.
- [08:25]
A
Fantastic. Mark, thank you so much for joining us today on the Becker Business, the Becker private equity podcast. Thank you very, very much.
- [08:31]
B
Thank you, Scott. Appreciate your.