Most Healthcare Founders Think Building a Clinic Takes 6-9 Months
The reality? 15-24 months. And the mistakes made in month 2—site selection, team assembly, design decisions—create operational problems for the next 10 years.
We partner with mission-driven healthcare founders, operators, and investors to build spaces that enable exceptional care—whether you're transforming how seniors age in their communities or designing comprehensive diagnostics for patients who deserve better than today's healthcare status quo.
Why We Do This Work
Retained CRE was founded after watching highly educated people with means struggle to coordinate care for aging parents. The paperwork, the phone calls, the endless appointments—it was overwhelming even with resources.
This experience revealed two critical insights:
First: If it's this hard for people with education, money, and time, it must be 100 times harder for those without those advantages.
Second: Even people with resources deserve better than the sterile, transactional healthcare most of us experience.
That's when we knew we wanted to work with healthcare founders, operators, and investors who are building something different—whether that's PACE centers transforming how seniors age in their communities, or cash-pay clinics doing real diagnostic work for patients tired of 15-minute appointments and cookie-cutter "wellness."
The common thread? Organizations that care deeply about health outcomes, not just throughput. And leadership teams who understand that physical space either enables or undermines the ability to deliver exceptional care and achieve strong financial performance.
Most organizations, in their rush to scale, make real estate decisions that come back to haunt them. They pick sites that don't support their care model. They hire architects who produce sterile medical suites instead of healing environments. They forget to design for optionality and pay dearly when their model evolves. They underestimate timelines and burn through capital while waiting for permits.
Our job is to prevent those mistakes—while keeping leadership teams focused on care delivery and investors focused on predictable deployment and strong returns.
Who We Serve
We work across the healthcare real estate ecosystem—with the founders building new models, the operators scaling proven ones, and the investors backing them.
Healthcare Founders & Operators
Mission-driven organizations building or scaling care models that actually move the needle on health outcomes. From 0-to-1 launches to multi-site expansion strategies.
- PACE centers and senior care models
- Primary care groups (value-based, cash-pay, hybrid)
- Diagnostic and specialty facilities
- Innovative care delivery models
Investors & Lenders
Institutional partners who need real estate expertise to protect and enhance portfolio value. We de-risk healthcare real estate investments and accelerate time to revenue.
- Private equity healthcare portfolios
- Venture capital healthcare investments
- Healthcare-focused debt providers
- Strategic corporate investors
Development Partners
Architects, contractors, and project managers who want to work with clients who understand construction reality and value strategic execution.
- Healthcare-specialized architects
- General contractors with regulatory expertise
- Owner's project managers
- Healthcare real estate brokers
How We're Different
We're not transactional brokers. We're strategic partners who stay with you because the real value is in the decisions, not the deals.
Mission-Aligned, Not Transaction-Focused
We're selective about who we work with. We look for organizations that:
- Are building something that actually moves the needle on health outcomes
- Care about design and patient experience, not just square footage
- Value strategic partnership over transactional relationships
- Are committed to sustainable growth with proper capitalization
Whether you're serving Medicaid seniors or cash-pay executives, if you're trying to transform how care is delivered—not just replicate what exists—we should talk.
Design-Forward, Not Cookie-Cutter
We work with organizations where design matters. Not Ferrari dealership flashy—but spaces that reflect the quality of care being delivered. Where:
- Natural light and thoughtful materials replace fluorescent and vinyl
- Waiting rooms feel more like living rooms than DMV lobbies
- Patient privacy is built into the design, not an afterthought
- Staff actually want to work there (which shows in patient care)
If you're fine with sterile medical suites or spaces that feel like outpatient nursing homes, we're not the right partner.
Outcomes-Driven, Not Volume-Obsessed
We work with organizations that measure success by health outcomes and financial performance, not just patient volume. Whether that's:
- PACE operators reducing hospitalizations and improving quality of life
- Primary care groups improving chronic disease management through relationship-based care
- Diagnostic clinics catching health issues early through comprehensive testing
- Specialty practices creating environments that reduce patient anxiety and improve clinical outcomes
The common thread: you're trying to change how healthcare is delivered while building sustainable, profitable operations.
What We Do
Strategic partnership from market selection to opening day—and beyond. Here's what that looks like in practice:
Market & Site Selection
We help you define your ICP and TAM without falling into analysis paralysis. Identify 2-3 promising submarkets. Develop your space program. Decide: speed (second-gen) vs. customization (shell space)? Tour sites with qualitative lens—cotenancy, access, wayfinding, aesthetics, safety. Negotiate leases with optionality (ROFR, early termination, flexible terms).
Team Assembly & Vetting
You can't just hire any architect or GC. We help you assemble your A-Team: architects with healthcare (not just office) experience who understand how to create healing environments, GCs where we vet the specific project team (not just the firm), and OPMs who'll actually be onsite. We hire people, not logos.
Design Strategy & Optionality
We guide the 5 critical design decisions that create ripples: employee experience, privacy, tech integration, optionality, atmosphere. Plan for future-proofing (extra conduit, rough-in plumbing, demountable walls, flex rooms). Ensure every decision aligns with your care model and creates spaces people actually want to be in—not sterile boxes.
Project Oversight & Timeline Management
We keep you on track through permitting (where things stall), construction (where inspectors slow you down), and final vendor choreography (where chaos happens). Manage expectations around realistic timelines. Build contingency for your contingency. Ensure operational readiness, not just building completion.
Portfolio Scaling Strategy
Once you've proven the model at one site, we build your repeatable playbook: consistent layouts, scalable systems, local adaptation strategy. Help you move from 1 to 3 to 5 to 10+ sites without reinventing the wheel each time. Design for enterprise value—consistency with thoughtful local adaptation commands higher multiples at exit.
Value for Investors & Lenders
We protect and enhance portfolio value by de-risking healthcare real estate investments and ensuring predictable deployment.
Accelerated Time to Revenue
Realistic timelines (15-24 months) and proactive management prevent the capital burn that happens when founders assume 6-9 months. Earlier opening = earlier cash flow.
Predictable Capital Deployment
Comprehensive budgeting that includes hidden costs (attorneys, due diligence, tech, contingency) prevents mid-project capital calls and protects investor returns.
Portfolio De-Risking
Strategic site selection, proper team assembly, and design for optionality reduce execution risk across your healthcare real estate portfolio.
Scalable Growth Models
Repeatable site selection and design frameworks enable efficient multi-site expansion—critical for portfolio companies moving from 1 to 10+ locations.
Enhanced Enterprise Value
Design decisions that drive patient retention and staff satisfaction directly impact NOI and exit multiples. We've helped clients add $100M+ in enterprise value through strategic real estate.
Regulatory Navigation
Deep expertise in complex builds (PACE centers, California Title 24, I-2.1 classifications) prevents costly delays and ensures compliance from day one.
Anthony Ferlan
Founder & Principal, Retained CRE
Experience
Anthony founded Retained CRE after spending over a decade working in healthcare real estate with venture-backed organizations, insurance-backed providers, and publicly traded companies.
He worked with myPlace Health and Iora Health (now One Medical Seniors), helping scale PACE and senior primary care models across multiple markets. He played a key role in integrating real estate functions into One Medical post-acquisition, managing the complexity of combining two growing organizations while maintaining operational momentum and protecting investor capital.
What we learned: The best real estate strategies aren't about finding the perfect space. They're about making smart tradeoffs that enable exceptional care delivery while building spaces people actually want to be in—and protecting the financial performance that matters to investors.
What Drives Us
We've seen what happens when healthcare organizations get real estate right:
- PACE centers that become community anchors, transforming how seniors age with dignity
- Primary care clinics designed for relationships that reduce hospitalizations and improve outcomes
- Diagnostic facilities where comprehensive testing catches problems early
- Spaces where staff want to work, leading to better retention and patient care
- Portfolio companies that scale efficiently from 1 to 10+ sites with predictable capital deployment
And we've seen what happens when they get it wrong:
- Founders burning through investor capital while waiting 6 months for permits they didn't anticipate
- Sites that looked good on paper but operationally don't work for their care model
- Design decisions made in month 2 that create staffing problems for 10 years
- Sterile medical suites that undermine the quality of care happening inside
- Emergency capital calls because "hidden costs" weren't budgeted
The difference between those outcomes usually comes down to having the right strategic partner early.
Our Approach
We're building a team that shares our commitment to mission-driven healthcare and design excellence. Every person we bring on board will be held to the same standards: deep healthcare expertise, strategic thinking, and genuine care about enabling exceptional patient outcomes.
Whether you're a founder building your first clinic, an operator scaling to 10+ sites, or an investor protecting portfolio value—we're here to help you get real estate right.
Want to talk about your project or portfolio? We're always happy to be a thought partner, even if we don't end up working together.
Let's Talk About Your Project
Whether you're a founder planning your first site, an operator scaling to 10+, or an investor evaluating healthcare real estate opportunities—we'd love to hear about your care model and growth strategy.
Schedule a Conversation