BRADENTON -- Riverside Medical Center, which has sat almost half-empty for the past two years, is on the rebound after being purchased by one of former state senator John McKay’s businesses.
The Riverside Real Estate Management Co. -- which also involves NDC Construction executives Ron Allen and Jason Bartz -- has begun renovating the center’s offices and plans to upgrade the interior common areas, pressure-wash its exterior walls and upgrade the landscaping and parking lot.
Already, Manatee Rural Health Services has contracted to move its podiatry offices to the first floor. McKay plans to recruit additional medical-related businesses to the 25-year-old building at 300 Riverside Drive E.
“It’s a very good facility. As some people might say, it has ‘good bones,’” said McKay, whose company purchased Riverside Medical Center in early June from David Walters’ Clover Realty for almost $3.7 million. “It’s been neglected from a cosmetic perspective, and the occupancy has dropped significantly over the last few years. But we think because of its proximity to the hospital, and because it’s such a nice building, we’ll be able to rent it out.”
Rural Health Services is drawn to Riverside because of its location, its elevators and its expansive parking, said Ray Fusco, Rural Health’s chief operating officer. The nonprofit group is moving its podiatrist services, titled Riverview Foot & Ankle, from just down the street from the Riverside building.
“Our current location is a small house we purchased six years ago, and we’ve just outgrown it,” Fusco says. “In the new location, we’ll be able to offer physical therapy, which we haven’t been able to provide in the past.”
The renovations and prospect of additional tenants is welcome news for those businesses that have stayed in Riverside during its up and down times.
Manatee Diagnostic Center sees 150 to 200 patients a day at its Riverside location, which it opened in 1988, two years after the building was constructed, says practice administrator Kobee Masiello. The diagnostic center has offices on three floors and is the only tenant on at least one floor.
Masiello remembers how the building evolved from its initial “C-class” status to a sought-after location, when former owner Bernard Croghan installed new windows that allowed a full view of the river. Croghan also installed a chiller air-conditioning system. Those changes led to almost a decade of bustling hallways as the center filled with a variety of medical and psychiatric doctors and others.
“I remember back in the 1990s when the parking lot was always full,” Masiello says. “The traffic used to be much more than what it is now. When the building was full, we were busier. So we are looking for- ward to hopefully the building returning to 90 or 100 percent occupancy.”
The center started to lose tenants around 2008, four years after Greg Gort, owner of Gorty’s Deli, moved his small restaurant to the first floor.
Gort weathered the slowdown in his business as doctors gradually moved out to start their own practices or shuttered them because of the slow economy, Now, he’s hoping to see more doctors, nurses, lab workers and patients frequenting his restaurant.
“It hasn’t been easy. There just aren’t as many people working here anymore,” Gort said. “But more tenants will bring more customers. I’m looking forward to anything that will bring us more business.”
Christine Hawes, Herald business writer, can be reached at (941) 745-7081.
