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An independently owned and operated home specialty pharmacy is expanding its Baton Rouge operations after acquiring a medical office building.
Vital Care of Baton Rouge purchased a 9,500-square-foot facility on Continental Drive, near Interstate 10, through MJRJ Properties LLC from 3B Real Estate LLC for $1 million, according to records filed Tuesday with the East Baton Rouge Parish Clerk of Court..
Dex Shill of NAI Latter & Blum brokered the deal for the buyer, while David Vercher of KW Commercial Real Estate represented the seller.
The pharmacy has operated from a 1,800-square-foot space on Picardy Avenue for nearly three years but has outgrown its current location, says owner and operator Jamie Scott. The company is now in the design phase of its renovation project, which is expected to take six to eight months.
“We’ve just had astronomical growth, and we’ve outgrown our building,” he says. “Lots of growth is the cause of the move. We plan to keep doing the same thing we’ve been doing but in a different location.”
Scott, who also manages the company’s Hattiesburg, Mississippi, location, says the prime location of the new facility played a key role in the decision to buy.
“It’s close to the interstate. I employ delivery drivers, and we deliver all over the state these specialty drugs,” Scott says. “These specialty drugs are super expensive. I don’t trust them to go through the mail. The latest renovations to the building were another factor in us buying it.”
The facility was previously a dental medical office and was later purchased with plans to be converted into a spa and medical marijuana dispensary. However, that deal fell through when renovations were about 90% complete, Scott says.
He and his three partners, Jonathan Sims, Melanie Clark and Ron Edwards, run the company.
Vital Care currently has 12 full-time employees and around 10 part-time employees. Scott says they plan to hire around five more full-time workers.
The company services Our Lady of the Lake, Baton Rouge General, and Ochsner for home antibiotics and provides specialty medications both in-office and at home. Additionally, 1,900 square feet of the new building will be leased to a tenant. Plans for the company’s Picardy Avenue location remain undecided.
