Kaiser Buys Green Valley Land

Kaiser Buys Green Valley Land
By Amanda Janis/Business Writer

Kaiser Permanente has purchased land for future development in Fairfield's Green Valley Corporate Park, a spokesman for nation's largest HMO confirmed.

Rumors have circulated that the 9.2-acre site will host a 70,000-square-foot clinic within the next few years, though spokesman Jim Caroompas said that specific development plans and timelines have yet to be determined.

"Escrow has closed," he said. "But we don't have anything yet on paper - nothing has been presented to the board."

Often, Caroompas explained, quite a bit of time may pass between the purchase of real estate by the health care organization and the initiation of development.

"That's not unusual for us," he remarked."Land prices aren't going to get any cheaper; we're trying to be as judicious as we can, being a nonprofit. And that includes purchasing property while it's still available."

Colliers International in Fairfield brokered the sale of the land from Quadrangle Development Company, owners of the 140-acre Green Valley Corporate Park.

Brooks Pedder, managing partner of Colliers' Fairfield office, said of Kaiser's purchase, "It's great that they're expanding their presence in Fairfield. It's probably needed."

Kaiser's Vacaville campus off Vaca Valley Parkway is undergoing a major expansion, the centerpiece of which will be a 340,000-square-foot hospital set to be completed in early 2009. Plans for the hospital have been in the pipeline since the health care provider opened its Vacaville medical offices in 1996.

Amanda Janis can be reached at business@thereporter.com.