By: Illyshia Parker – Commercial Real Estate Reporter, Birmingham Business Journal

A building in a master-planned office development along the U.S. Highway 280 corridor is getting an upgrade.

NAI Chase Commercial’s Birmingham office said Inverness Center North Building 40 at 40 Inverness Center Drive is now undergoing renovations that will help better accommodate both general and medical office businesses.

The real estate firm took over the management contract for the 450,000 square foot Inverness Center North portfolio a year ago following its $16.05 million purchase by Florida-based In-Rel Properties. CB&A Project Management signed a seven-year lease at 44 Inverness Center Parkway earlier this year.

Roughly $4 million has been budgeted for renovations, building upgrades and tenant build-outs at the 148,877 square-foot midrise office building in Hoover.

Key renovation highlights include the modernization of building facilities, build-to-suit medical suites for diagnostic and imaging centers, wellness and rehabilitation opportunities and patient-centered design with the construction of a patient pick-up and drop-off apron at the front doors.

NAI Chase recently signed a 10,000-square-foot lease with Pulmonary Associates of the Southeast PC, which has a location at 3686 Grandview Parkway, Suite 500. Several other new medical-focused tenants are pending at 40 Inverness.

“This lease represents an exciting shift towards a medical-focused building within Inverness Center North’s award-winning suburban office park,” said Randy Thomas, executive vice president-brokerage of NAI Chase Commercial. “With its strategic location minutes from Grandview Hospital yet set in a quiet park-like setting located on Memorial Lake, it’s poised to become a hub for other cutting-edge medical services wanting a convenient location at affordable medical office rates”.

Thomas said the recent lease is part of a growing trend for medical lease activity.

“It’s great to see the office and medical market moving back towards stronger activity,” he said. “This lease is the latest of several recent major transactions NAI Chase Commercial has represented in the Birmingham region, demonstrating a steady demand for commercial office and medical space.”