News

Mark Miller earns the Project Management Professional (“PMP”) certification

RTG breaks ground on 75,000 sf MOB in Cartersville, GA

The new 72,225 square-foot facility will include Harbin’s offices of Cardiology, Cardiac Rehabilitation, Diabetes Management Center, Ear Nose and Throat, Family Practice, General Surgery, Hearing Center, Imaging Center, Laboratory, Nephrology, Pediatrics, Plastic Surgery, Urology and Rheumatology. Construction is expected to be completed in October 2008.

RTG also managed for Harbin a 75,000 square-foot specialty center and MOB that recently opened in Rome, GA.

RTG ranked by Modern Healthcare

The ranking is based on dollar volume of completed construction projects, number of years in healthcare project management and development, and the percentage of total work involving healthcare facilities.

“This is quite an accomplishment for a company that was founded less than a decade ago,” said RTG Executive Vice President Don Parnell. “We obviously are pleased because it is a tribute to our outstanding clients and team members.”

In addition to healthcare, Realty Trust Group manages construction projects for financial institutions, government and other private sector companies.

Firm's Clients Plentiful As Banks Boom

uilding bank offices is a booming business these days. It's only a slight exaggeration to say branches are being built on every prime corner in the Knoxville region. Only slightly.

By my wholly unofficial estimate, at least 25 bank branches are now under construction in Knox and surrounding counties, or will be in the next 18 to 24 months.

Banks are hot. Every developer with a retail center anywhere in the region offers out parcels to banks.

Again, only a slight exaggeration. With so many bank projects in the works, Realty Trust Group has beefed up its professional staff to grab a piece of the growing bank construction services business.

The Knoxville-based real estate consulting and development services firm recently hired Mark Miller as senior project manager. Miller has 10 years experience managing bank construction projects in the Southeast. He previously worked for CB Richard Ellis, one of the largest commercial real estate services companies in the world, was a vice president and project manager for Knoxville-based Lawler-Wood and spent seven years with First American Bank in Nashville. As area banks expand their branch networks there will be a continuing need for "oversight of these projects," said RTG President Greg Gheen.

And RTG wants to be a leader in providing oversight services for bank construction. One of the Knoxville firm's most recent projects was serving as owner representative for construction of the new Sevier County Bank headquarters in Sevierville, which was completed in May. Construction oversight is only one of the services RTG is pitching. Before a bank invests the $2 million or so it takes to open a new branch, the perfect piece of real estate must be found and purchased.

"Site selection is a critical service that we can provide," said RTG principal Don Parnell.

RTG, which was started in 1998, has built its reputation largely as a real estate consultant for the health-care industry, providing site selection, financial planning, development and management services for hospitals, medical practices and related businesses in Tennessee, Georgia and Virginia. The health-care industry will continue to be a major focus of RTG's business, but adding bank clients is important to the firm's long-term growth, Gheen said.

Business writer Roger Harris' Property Watch column appears on Wednesday. He may be reached at 865-342-6342 or harrisr@knews.com.

Copyright 2006, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.