Hi, I'm Darren Hazen.

I help doctors, dentists and the people who run their practices find, lease and negotiate medical space around Charlotte. You keep seeing patients. I'll deal with the landlord.

(Somebody has to. Might as well be the guy who actually enjoys it.)

Let's talk What I do
Darren Hazen, Lee & Associates Charlotte

About me

Hi, I'm the Healthcare Real Estate Guy.

Healthcare real estate broker with Lee & Associates Charlotte. Medical space is the whole job, not a side gig.

My world is medical space: dental and ortho suites, surgical and procedure space, med spas, physician groups, and the occasional building somebody's wondering whether to buy.

Plenty of doctors handle their own lease, and some of them do it well. It's not a skill problem. It's an information problem. There is no Zillow for commercial real estate. It isn't public what the practice down the road is paying, which second-gen suite is available before it ever hits the market, or how much landlords are offering toward a buildout. Stuff like that lives in conversations between brokers and landlords, and those conversations are pretty much my whole day.

So think of me less as the guy who takes over and more as the guy who hands you the numbers. You still make every call. You'll just be making it with the same information the landlord has, which is usually a lot more than they'd like you to have.

Off the clock, I live in South End and go to the gym to lift heavy things most mornings (great practice for lease negotiations, honestly). I will also happily talk your ear off about parking ratios. Consider yourself warned.

Nobody went to med school to read a CAM reconciliation.
Me, to basically every doctor I meet

How I help

What I actually do

Short version: anything that involves your practice and a building. Longer version below.

Renewals

Renew without leaving money on the table

I pull what comparable practices are actually paying, figure out what your landlord needs to keep you, and negotiate rent, escalations, free rent and a fresh improvement allowance. Staying put is often the best deal in town. It just shouldn't be the default deal.

Finding space

The short list, not the phone book

I run the search, tour everything, and bring you the options worth your time, including second-generation medical suites and spaces that never make it onto a website. You tour the three that matter, not the fifteen that don't.

Site selection

Put the practice where the patients are

Demographics, growth, drive times, competitor locations, referral sources. I map where your patients come from today and where the next ten years of them are moving, so the location is a decision instead of a guess.

Buildouts

The fine print is where the money is

Improvement allowances, who pays for plumbing in the new ops, HVAC, shell condition, delivery dates. I negotiate the construction side of the lease so the surprises happen on paper, not on move-in day.

Growth

Second locations and expansions

Booked out, adding a provider, or eyeing a new part of town? I'll tell you whether there's room next door, what the new submarket actually costs, and whether a second office pencils out before you commit to one.

Lease review

A second set of eyes on the lease

Renewal options, relocation clauses, CAM caps, exclusives, assignment rights if you ever sell the practice. I'll flag what's normal, what's not, and what's worth pushing on. (Your attorney still gets the last word. I just make their job shorter.)

Owning

Buy, sell, or sale-leaseback

Own your building, or thinking about it? I'll help you figure out what it's worth, whether owning still makes sense, and whether cashing out with a sale-leaseback could fund the next phase of the practice.

Selling the practice

Get the real estate ready for the exit

Selling to a group, a DSO, private equity or an associate? Buyers care a lot about the lease: term left, assignment language, rent versus market. I help make sure the real estate helps your valuation instead of dragging it down.

The whole project

One point of contact, start to finish

Landlords, their brokers, your attorney, the architect, the contractor, the timeline. I keep all of it moving and keep you (and your practice administrator) posted, so nobody on your team has to become a part-time real estate expert.

Who & where

My people, my map

Practices I work with

Dental & Pediatric Dental Orthodontics Endo & Oral Surgery Plastic Surgery Med Spas & Aesthetics Dermatology Physician Groups Physical Therapy Behavioral Health Veterinary

Areas I cover

Uptown Midtown South End Dilworth / Myers Park SouthPark Cotswold Ballantyne Rea Farms / Waverly Pineville Steele Creek Airport / West Charlotte University Northlake Matthews Mint Hill Huntersville / Cornelius / Davidson Mooresville Concord / Kannapolis Monroe / Indian Trail Waxhaw / Weddington Fort Mill / Tega Cay / Indian Land Rock Hill Gastonia / Belmont

Wilmington too. And if your practice has plans somewhere else in the Carolinas, I'm happy to get in the car.

Fair questions

The fine print (the fun kind)

Do I have to pay you?

Usually not. In most tenant-side lease deals, the landlord already budgets for a broker's commission, whether you bring one or not. If your situation is different, I'll tell you up front, before it matters.

We're not planning to move.

Most people I talk to aren't, and renewing might be exactly the right call. But a renewal is still a negotiation, and landlords know most tenants won't push. Better rent, smaller escalations, free months and a fresh improvement allowance can add up to tens of thousands of dollars a year, every year of the new term. Knowing the market before you sign up for another five or ten years is how you get them.

Our lease isn't up for a couple of years.

Perfect timing, honestly. For a medical practice, renewals should start 12 to 18 months out, and a relocation with a buildout can take longer than that once design, permitting and construction are in the mix. Starting early is the leverage. Starting late is how you end up signing whatever the landlord sends over.

Can't I just call the landlord's broker?

You can. They're usually lovely people. They also work for the landlord, and their job is to get the best deal for the building. Mine is to get the best deal for you.

I already have a broker.

Great. If they're calling you before your lease is up with real numbers, keep them. If they only call back when you call them, you know where to find me.

We own our building.

Even better. Owners have options renters don't: a second location, a sale-leaseback, refinancing, or just knowing what the asset's worth today. Happy to walk through any of it, no strings attached.

We're a small practice. Is this worth your time?

Yes. Solo practice or twenty providers, the lease is one of the biggest checks you write every month. A 2,000 square foot dental suite deserves the same attention as a 20,000 square foot surgery center.

What does working together actually look like?

A quick call about where the practice is and where it's headed. Then I put together a market snapshot: what's available, what comparable practices are paying, and what your options look like. From there you decide what to do, and I handle the searching, touring, negotiating and paperwork. You'll hear from me when something matters, not every Tuesday for the sake of it.

Will you keep our plans confidential?

Absolutely. Whether you're thinking about expanding, moving, selling or just curious, that stays between us until you decide otherwise. Your landlord doesn't need to know you're shopping until it's useful for them to know.

Is it weird that you're this into medical office space?

Probably. My friends think so. It works out well for my clients, though.

Contact

Let's talk.
Or text. Whatever's easier.

No pitch deck, no 45-minute "discovery call." Tell me what's going on with your space and I'll tell you what I'm seeing.

Email me Call or text