Partners Real Estate

Starting Out

Opening A New Practice

Your first lease sets your overhead for the next decade. We help providers pick the site and negotiate the lease before the money starts going out the door.

$0 out of pocket for most practices. The landlord pays our fee.

Send us your lease Call (210) 384-2342

A new practice has one advantage an established one does not: nothing has been committed yet. Every decision is still open, and the decisions made in the first sixty days, where to be, how much space, who pays for the build-out, determine whether the practice carries a manageable occupancy cost or an anchor.

The three numbers that decide the site

Rent is only the first. The second is the build-out: a shell space with a large improvement allowance can beat a cheaper second-generation suite, or lose to it badly, depending on what the landlord is actually paying for. The third is time, because rent usually starts before patients do, and how that gap is written into the lease is negotiable.

What a bank wants to see

If a practice loan is funding the build-out, the lender will read the lease. Term length, assignment rights, and whether the landlord will sign a lender's waiver all affect whether the loan closes on time. We negotiate with that in mind rather than discovering it at underwriting.

Where your patients actually are

Demographics, drive times, and payer mix by corridor rather than by gut feel, plus how many competing providers of your specialty already sit inside the trade area.

Shell versus second-generation

What each option really costs once you price the build. A former medical or dental suite can save a great deal, or force a layout that costs you an operatory.

Free rent and delayed start

Construction and licensing take months. The lease should reflect that your revenue starts later than your occupancy, and that is a negotiated term, not a favor.

Guaranty exposure

New practices are usually asked for a personal guaranty. Whether it is required, how many months it covers, and whether it burns off over time are all negotiable.

What This Costs Your Practice

Free To Your Practice. The Landlord Pays Our Fee.

1On most listed buildings the landlord pays a leasing fee.

It is in the listing agreement before you walk in.

2Alone, the landlord's broker usually keeps all of it.

You do not save it. Their broker keeps it.

3With us, our share comes out of that fee.

For most practices, $0 and no invoice from us.

Unrepresented
Landlord's broker keeps the whole fee
Represented by us
Landlord's broker
Your broker, on your side of the table

Same fee, two ways to split it. One of them puts a negotiator in your corner. The other does not.

A few situations differ, such as owner-direct, physician-owned and sublease space. We confirm the fee in writing on every building before you tour it. Brokerage fees are negotiable and not set by law.

Common Questions

Common questions

How far ahead should I start looking?

Nine to twelve months before you want to open, longer for a ground-up or heavy build. Permitting and construction take longer than most first-time owners expect, in every market, and a compressed timeline removes your ability to walk away from a bad deal.

How much space do I need?

It follows your room count, not a rule of thumb. We size from the exam rooms or operatories you plan to run on day one plus realistic growth, because square footage you do not use is rent you pay every month for the whole term.

Do you work with startups, or only established practices?

Both. Startups are where representation changes the most, because there is no existing lease locking in the mistakes.

What does it cost me?

For most practices, nothing out of pocket: the landlord typically pays the leasing fee and our side is paid from it. We confirm it in writing per property.

Behind The Three Of Us

Partners Healthcare Services, And Partners Real Estate

We are the San Antonio team of Partners Healthcare Services, the healthcare tenant and buyer representation practice of Partners Real Estate. The practice began in 2009 as Crown Tenant Advisors in Atlanta, joined Partners in July 2026, and holds a 5.0 rating across 109 Google reviews. Its brokers are on the ground in Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Indiana, and the healthcare case studies and client quotes on this site are the practice's.

Partners was founded in 1997, reports more than 300 professionals, and has offices in San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and Atlanta. When your practice grows past San Antonio you keep us as the point of contact: Austin, Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth through Partners' own offices, and anywhere else through the best healthcare broker in that market, run by us.

The national practice ›   Where we work ›

Opening Something New?

Tell us the specialty and the part of town. We will tell you what the real options look like.

Send us your lease Call (210) 384-2342
Call (210) 384-2342Free lease review