About Retained CRE
You're Planning a 6–9 Month Build. The Real Number Is 15–24.
And the decisions made in month two — site, team, design — set operational problems, or advantages, for the next ten years.
We partner with mission-driven healthcare founders, operators, and investors to build spaces that enable exceptional care — whether you're transforming how seniors age in their communities or designing diagnostics for patients who deserve better than today's status quo.
Why We Do This Work
Retained CRE was founded after watching capable, well-resourced people struggle to coordinate care for aging parents. The paperwork, the phone calls, the endless appointments — overwhelming, even with every advantage.
First: if it's this hard for people with education, money, and time, it's far harder for those without them.
Second: even people with resources deserve better than the sterile, transactional healthcare most of us experience.
That's the work we wanted: healthcare founders, operators, and investors building something different — PACE centers transforming how seniors age in their communities, or cash-pay clinics doing real diagnostic work for patients tired of 15-minute appointments and cookie-cutter "wellness."
The common thread? Organizations that care about health outcomes, not just throughput — and leadership teams who understand that physical space either enables or undermines the care they deliver and the returns they promise.
In the rush to scale, most organizations make real estate decisions that come back to haunt them. They pick sites that don't fit the care model. They hire architects who produce sterile medical suites instead of healing environments. They skip designing for optionality and pay for it when the model evolves. They underestimate timelines and burn capital waiting on permits.
Our job is to prevent those mistakes — keeping leadership focused on care and investors focused on predictable deployment and strong returns.
Who We Serve
We work across the healthcare real estate ecosystem — the founders building new models, the operators scaling proven ones, and the investors backing them.
Healthcare Founders & Operators
Mission-driven organizations building or scaling care models that move the needle on outcomes — from 0-to-1 launches to multi-site expansion.
- PACE centers and senior care models
- Primary care (value-based, cash-pay, hybrid)
- Diagnostic and specialty facilities
- Innovative care delivery models
Investors & Lenders
Institutional partners who need real estate expertise to protect portfolio value. We de-risk healthcare real estate and accelerate time to revenue.
- Private equity healthcare portfolios
- Venture capital healthcare investments
- Healthcare-focused debt providers
- Strategic corporate investors
Development Partners
Architects, contractors, and project managers who want clients that understand construction reality and value strategic execution.
- Healthcare-specialized architects
- GCs with regulatory expertise
- Owner's project managers
- Healthcare real estate brokers
How We're Different
We're not transactional brokers. We're strategic partners who stay, because the value is in the decisions, not the deals.
Mission-Aligned, Not Transaction-Focused
We're selective. We look for organizations that:
- Are building something that moves the needle on outcomes
- Care about design and patient experience, not just square footage
- Value partnership over transactions
- Are committed to sustainable growth with proper capitalization
Medicaid seniors or cash-pay executives — if you're trying to transform how care is delivered, not just replicate what exists, we should talk.
Design-Forward, Not Cookie-Cutter
We work where design matters. Not flashy — spaces that reflect the quality of care being delivered. Where:
- Natural light and thoughtful materials replace fluorescent and vinyl
- Waiting rooms feel more like living rooms than DMV lobbies
- Patient privacy is built in, not bolted on
- Staff actually want to work there — which shows in patient care
If sterile medical suites are fine by you, we're not the right partner.
Outcomes-Driven, Not Volume-Obsessed
We work with teams that measure success by outcomes and financial performance, not volume:
- PACE operators reducing hospitalizations and improving quality of life
- Primary care managing chronic disease through relationships
- Diagnostic clinics catching issues early
- Specialty practices designing to reduce anxiety and improve outcomes
The thread: changing how care is delivered while building a durable business.
What We Do
Strategic partnership from market selection to opening day — and beyond. In practice:
Market & Site Selection
We help you define your ICP and TAM without analysis paralysis, identify 2–3 promising submarkets, and develop your space program. Speed (second-gen) vs. customization (shell space)? We tour with a qualitative lens — cotenancy, access, wayfinding, aesthetics, safety — and negotiate leases with optionality (ROFR, early termination, flexible terms).
Team Assembly & Vetting
You can't hire just any architect or GC. We help assemble your A-team: architects with healthcare (not just office) experience who know how to create healing environments, GCs where we vet the specific project team (not just the firm), and OPMs who'll actually be onsite. We hire people, not logos.
Design Strategy & Optionality
We guide the five design decisions that create ripples: employee experience, privacy, tech integration, optionality, atmosphere. We plan for future-proofing (extra conduit, rough-in plumbing, demountable walls, flex rooms) so every decision aligns with your care model — and creates a space people actually want to be in.
Project Oversight & Timeline Management
We keep you on track through permitting (where things stall), construction (where inspectors slow you down), and the final vendor choreography (where chaos happens). We manage expectations around realistic timelines, build contingency for your contingency, and ensure operational readiness — not just building completion.
Portfolio Scaling Strategy
Once the model is proven at one site, we build your repeatable playbook: consistent layouts, scalable systems, a local-adaptation strategy. We help you move from 1 to 3 to 5 to 10+ sites without reinventing the wheel — designing for enterprise value, since consistency with thoughtful local adaptation commands higher multiples at exit.
Value for Investors & Lenders
We protect and enhance portfolio value by de-risking healthcare real estate and ensuring predictable deployment.
Accelerated Time to Revenue
Realistic timelines (15–24 months) and proactive management prevent the capital burn that hits when founders assume 6–9. Earlier opening, earlier cash flow.
Predictable Capital Deployment
Comprehensive budgeting that includes the hidden costs — legal, due diligence, tech, contingency — prevents mid-project capital calls.
Portfolio De-Risking
Strategic site selection, proper team assembly, and design for optionality reduce execution risk across the portfolio.
Scalable Growth Models
Repeatable site and design frameworks enable efficient multi-site expansion — critical from 1 to 10+ locations.
Enhanced Enterprise Value
Design decisions that drive retention and staff satisfaction flow straight into NOI and exit multiples. We've helped add $100M+ in enterprise value.
Regulatory Navigation
Deep expertise in complex builds — PACE, California Title 24, I-2.1 classifications — prevents costly delays and ensures compliance from day one.
Anthony Ferlan
Founder & Principal, Retained CRE
Experience
I founded Retained CRE after more than a decade in healthcare real estate — working with venture-backed organizations, insurance-backed providers, and publicly traded companies.
I worked with myPlace Health and Iora Health (now One Medical Seniors), helping scale PACE and senior primary care across multiple markets, and I helped integrate the real estate function into One Medical after the acquisition — combining two growing organizations without losing operational momentum.
What I learned: the best real estate strategy isn't finding the perfect space. It's making the tradeoffs that let a team deliver exceptional care, in a space people actually want to be in, while protecting the financial performance investors are counting on.
Why This Work
I've watched capable, well-resourced people get worn down just trying to coordinate care for someone they love. If it's that hard with every advantage, it's far harder without them. Space won't fix healthcare — but the wrong space quietly makes everything harder, and the right one gives good people room to do their best work. That's the part I can control, so it's the part I do.
What I've Seen
When healthcare organizations get real estate right:
- PACE centers that become community anchors, helping seniors age with dignity
- Primary care clinics designed for relationships that reduce hospitalizations
- Diagnostic facilities where comprehensive testing catches problems early
- Spaces where staff want to work — which shows up in retention and care
- Portfolio companies that scale from 1 to 10+ sites with predictable deployment
And when they get it wrong:
- Founders burning investor capital waiting on permits they didn't anticipate
- Sites that looked good on paper but don't work for the care model
- Month-two design decisions that create staffing problems for ten years
- Sterile suites that undercut the care happening inside them
- Emergency capital calls because "hidden costs" were never budgeted
The difference usually comes down to having the right strategic partner early.
Our Approach
I'm building a team that shares this commitment to mission-driven healthcare and design. Everyone we bring on is held to the same standard: deep healthcare expertise, strategic thinking, and genuine care about patient outcomes.
Founder building your first clinic, operator scaling to 10+, or investor protecting portfolio value — we're here to help you get real estate right.
Want to talk through your project or portfolio? I'm always happy to be a thought partner, even if we don't end up working together.
Let's Talk About Your Project
Founder planning your first site, operator scaling to 10+, or investor evaluating healthcare real estate — we'd love to hear about your care model and growth strategy.
Schedule a Conversation