“Since we’ve been in Las Vegas, we’ve never broken ground on a project that wasn’t 100 percent sold-out,” said Mike Young, president of Huffman Builders West. This statement becomes all the more impressive when you realize the company has approximately 750,000 square feet of medical and dental office space under development and is about to break ground on the 300,000-square-foot Centennial Hills project in northwest Las Vegas.
The Texas-based company, founded in 1978 by Jerry Huffman, has made its reputation as a turnkey developer of medical and dental offices. What makes Huffman unique is that it provides complete project management, from financing and land acquisition to architecture, interior design and equipment procurement, to IT installation and marketing. It has completed more than 5,000 medical offices nationwide and specializes in working with individual medical and dental practices with offices measuring 1,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet.
In 2003, Young spearheaded Huffman Builders’ westward expansion, moving a division of the company to Las Vegas on the basis of a coin toss. At the time, he said, they were considering whether to move into the Southern California or Las Vegas markets. Las Vegas won and quickly proved that Lady Luck was shining on the company. Though it has since moved into Southern California as well, the rapid population growth in Las Vegas has kept the company’s 25 employees very busy.
“We’re currently building turnkey medical offices for over 100 local physicians and dentists. As far as I know, that makes us the largest medical developer in the history of Las Vegas – and we’ve done it in three years’ time,” said Young, adding that the company continues to build its relationships with medical professionals, cognizant of its niche with small practices, even as it begins to look toward larger practices and projects.
Though the $90 million Centennial Hills project may seem to be a radical departure for Huffman, it is an outgrowth of listening to its customers and understanding their needs. According to Young, Huffman put the project together as it saw land in northwestern Las Vegas disappearing and the population increasing.
Because the site is located half a mile from Centennial Hills Hospital, many larger medical groups were interested in going into that area, according to Young, including West Valley Imaging, a diagnostic group that will occupy 30,000 square feet of office space in the new project. Even before breaking ground, 60 percent of the 300,000-square-foot project has already been sold or leased.
The project will include 12 single-story buildings, one 60,000-square-foot two-story building and one 90,000-square-foot, three-story Class A office building. Approximately 150,000 square feet will be turnkey offices for sale and another 90,000 square feet of space will be available for lease. A two-story parking structure will help ensure the project’s parking ratio of six spaces per 1,000 square feet of office space. In addition to the medical and dental facilities, the site will feature a mix of retail and restaurants, which, Young said, is a new direction for the company, and will help to create a campus environment for the project.
In addition to Centennial Hills, Huffman Builders West has other large-scale developments in the works, including Horizon Ridge, a 60,000-square-foot project that broke ground in May. Three additional projects totaling from 300,000 square feet to 600,000 square feet are currently in negotiation.
However, said Young, the company will never get away from its origins as a turnkey builder for medical practitioners. “It’s what brought us here; it’s our niche,” he stated.