The LSU Board of Supervisors will consider a cooperative endeavor agreement with the Pennington Biomedical Research Foundation and Louisiana Economic Development regarding the establishment of the bariatric-metabolic surgery program.
As part of the CEA, Pennington Biomedical will lease more than 5,000 square feet of interim clinic space at an annual rate of $25 per square foot, for a total of $127,350 per year, to Our Lady of the Lake Physicians Group, a partner in the new bariatric clinic.
“The $25/sf rent amount proposed is within fair market value for similar clinical facilities,” supporting documents read. The annual lease revenue for this space is expected to be $127,350.
Using money provided by LED, another space on the Pennington Biomedical campus will be renovated to create a permanent 10,000-square-foot clinic facility. A new lease is expected to be executed with OLOL’s Physicians Group for that newly renovated space. The CEA doesn’t note how much that space will be rented for.
The new center—to be led by Dr. Phil Schauer, who established the nation’s premier program in obesity surgery in Cleveland—is being established as a three-way partnership between OLOL, Pennington Biomedical and the LSU Health Sciences Center—New Orleans.
With the addition of Dr. Schauer’s team, the number of surgeries at OLOL is expected to increase some three-fold, from roughly 120 cases to more than 450 cases per year by the clinic’s third year of operation. The clinic is expected to create 35 additional professional biomedical science-based jobs, which is estimated to add approximately $3.5 million to the local economy by its third year of operation. Half of those jobs are expected to be filled from out-of-state applicants.
Additionally, it’s estimated that the clinic will create a medical tourism impact of $1.76 million over the first three years of the program.
“Based on his standing and reputation, we fully expect that his program will become a referral center for national and international cases,” the document reads.
Documents related to the CEA can be found in the LSU Board of Supervisors’ agenda, starting at page 57.
Read a recent Business Report cover package profiling Pennington Executive Director Dr. John Kirwan and his efforts to push the biomedical research facility to new heights.
