Chris Jacobson
Health care real estate adviser for CBRE
Chris Jacobson has been in the commercial real estate industry for two decades and a medical office broker since 2009. The St. Paul native, who's a health care real estate adviser for the Minneapolis office of CBRE, represents health systems, physician groups and independent practices in their real estate transactions. Before joining CBRE, he worked for Bloomington-based NorthMarq's health care advisory group.
"I've always been interested in health care, so it seems really comfortable," Jacobson says.
Jacobson and his business partner are working with more than a dozen health care groups in the Twin Cities and throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Q: How's medical brokerage different from traditional office brokerage?
A: The drivers are completely different. Medical is often driven by retaining staff and patient needs and economics are further down the list. … I'm working with a group that's moving literally down the hallway of their same building, and one of the main drivers is having more areas that are conducive to staff to help them retain staff.
Q: Medical real estate has been relatively recession-proof compared to other sectors, correct?
A: Medical stays at a real even pace; it never really gets fast and furious and it never really slows down. But there are things that affect it. The Affordable Care Act definitely has had an impact on health care real estate and how facilities are viewed by systems.
