Birmingham Business Journal's Harper Harwell is in studio

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Alabama's Morning News. I'm jten joining us now from the
Birmingham Business Journal. Harper Harwell is here. Hey Harper, how
are you? Hey? I'm good? Are you well? I tell
you it's good to have you. And you cover quite
a bit for the Birmingham Business What are the categories
that you focus on the most?

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Yes, So my main beats are tech startups and innovation,
but I also cover healthcare and education. So thankfully there's
a lot happening in all three of those sectors and
they all overlap a good bit as well, So thank you.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Just a business going on, yes, okay, well let's talk
about this big ophthalmology company that's coming in and growing here.
What's going on?

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yes, So this is an acquisition by Tree of Vision.
They were founded in twenty twenty four by a group
of fourteen former UAB Callahan I Hospital doctors and they
went independent and found a Tree Vision. So they just
acquired a Vision first I care group. They have they've
been operating in Birmingham for about thirty years and they
have about five clinics. So Tree Vision will be taking

(00:53):
over all of their clinics and all of their doctors
and care providers and so that will expand their operations
to thirteen clinics and twenty five licensed.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
I wow, so good for those doctors. So no new construction,
they're just going to take over the current buildings.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yes, yeah, so they're just taking over.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
They're all over towns.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, they're trust fill Homewood, Okay, Birmingham, Princeton, different areas.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Fantastic. So when does this take place? Immediately, they're just
have they got this all approved and it's done. They
wrote the check and here we go, let's get busy.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yes, so the deal closed a couple of weeks ago
and they expect all of the integration everything to be
complete around March first of twenty twenty six, So a
few months of integration and just you know, combining operations
and things. But they expected to be a pretty quick turnaround.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
Those staff members with the old group, do they get
to stay with the new group?

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yes, So to my knowledge, all of the doctors and
staff members are staying on with the with the acquisition.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Well that's awesome, good news for all of them. Congrats
to the fourteen for sure. For sure. All right, Andrews
Sports Medicine, My wife's a frequent flyer there. My son
has certainly seen some action over there playing football at Alabama,
and so they've been talking about this for quite some
time now. But Andrew's sports medicine, they're going to be
moving everything out of Saint Vincent's and going to Brookwood
Mall and taking over a part of that.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yes, so they are subleasing the former Belk department store
from the entire store. Yes, the entire store, which is
a lot of space. They'll be doubling their square footage
from their St. Vincent's location, and they expect this to
drastically improve patient care, and they're going to add the
new services and just have a lot more space to

(02:29):
take care.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
So the downstairs and upstairs.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yes, So the downstairs will be a fifty five thousand
square foot clinic with different services occupational therapy and MARI scans,
physical therapy, and then they're still pending some regulatory approvals,
but assuming they get approval for everything, the upstairs will
be a sixty five thousand square foot orthopedic ambulatory.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Surgery center, so they can do it right there.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Yes, So they'll still have to outsource some surgeries to
local hospitals.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Just because depending on how intensive.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, depending on them but most of their care will
be done on site at Brockwood Village, and again it'll
drastically expand what they're able to do.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
When will we see that in full action with the
you know, the logos and the signs up and then
patients pulling in. What's see expectation on time frame?

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah, so they're starting pre construction now. They're set to
start construction around early spring of twenty twenty six, and
then they expect to start seeing patients late spring early
summer of twenty twenty seven.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
Have you heard any more about more development with the
rest of Brookwood Village there getting back to you know,
being something that the community can enjoy again. Restaurants, retail apartments,
anything else going on.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, nothing definitive. Unfortunately, I think people don't really know
what to do with the space. But the CEO of
Andrew Sports Medicine, Lisa Warren, said she'd like to see
a hotel, some more retail restaurants so that patients and
their families can stay right there close by while they're
getting you know, care, there you go and they can
walk around, and she said, like Target and Whole Foods
and O. Henry's and all of those spaces that are

(03:58):
right there are awesome and like really valuable to the community.
But she'd love to see some more development for sure.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Why wouldn't everybody you know and bring back Brio Restaurant?
Please can we do that?

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (04:07):
I mean the best bread I've ever had to clicked that one?
All right? Very good? Well, Harper, Harwell, thank you Birmingham
Business Channel. Good to see it. Yeah, I good to
see you.