Medical Product Centers Planned for New York City, Cleveland

Organizations in Cleveland and New York City have emerged with separate yet similar plans to construct massive exhibition and conference complexes targeted specifically at the medical manufacturing industry. Both projects—which have yet to break ground—call for hundreds of thousands of square feet to be dedicated to permanent medical device and equipment showcases, as well as space for medical education activities.

Although both projects have been in planning stages for years—and are still several years out from their anticipated completions—they've each received their fair share of attention in recent weeks due to the achievement of significant milestones. Parties on both sides, although acknowledging that the significant size of the medical product market provides room for competition, tout their respective locations as being key to their anticipated success.

NYC's World Product Centre

On August 1, the World Product Centre LLC (WPC; New York City) announced an agreement under which it will begin to offer medical device makers worldwide licensing and lease agreements in a new million-square-foot permanent exhibition and conference complex to be located in midtown New York City. The company has signed a letter of intent with Extell Development Co. to occupy a specially designed building that Extell will construct to WPC's specifications.

"This is a major step forward for the World Product Centre as the players in the medical equipment industry now know exactly where our facility will be and can sign on to be a part of this exciting new concept," said Israel Green, chairman and president of WPC. "This is a tremendous opportunity for manufacturers to reach their prime target audience exactly when they are the most receptive and focused on sourcing and learning, all in a customized environment that is specifically designed for demonstration and education."

WPC reports that, if all goes as planned, construction for the building will commence at the beginning of 2009 and be completed by 2012. The facility's technology infrastructure will be designed and supported by Hewlett-Packard. The center will feature voiceover Internet protocol, wireless mobility, unified messaging, and network architecture designed to support the growing demands of the facility.

The center is being designed as a venue in which doctors, hospital administrators, and purchasing agents can see and test medical devices, diagnostics, equipment, and supporting systems from a wide range of manufacturers. The company estimates that medical device makers and ancillary support providers will mount as many as 2000 permanent displays and demonstrations of their equipment in the new facility.

In addition to permanent exhibition space for medtech manufacturers, WPC plans to organize a regularly scheduled series of seminars, workshops, and courses, presented by industry experts and designed to be of interest to medical professionals. In addition, WPC reports that it will organize programs and produce events to highlight specific medical technologies and specialty areas.

According to Green, medical associations and foundations representing device-driven specialties have expressed support for WPC and its mission. "We have had extensive conversations with many doctors and hospitals, and they love the idea of improving the process by which they equip their facilities," he said. "Their support will drive this new business model and make it successful."

For more information on plans for New York City's World Product Centre, visit www.worldproductcentre.com.

Cleveland's Medical Mart

Meanwhile, Cleveland officials are moving forward with a joint plan proposed by the city and Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. (MMPI; Chicago) for not only a new convention center, but also a medical mart that would offer permanent showroom space for suppliers and exhibitions in the healthcare industry. The trade show facility and medical mart would likely be located directly adjacent to or in close proximity to one another as a means of attracting traveling medical shows that will want to colocate with the medical mart.

MMPI says that large medical product manufacturers could stand to save tens of millions of dollars annually in their trade show exhibiting costs by securing space in a Cleveland-based medical mart that would allow them to participate in multiple healthcare trade shows out of a single showroom.

MMPI is both a property manager and trade show producer. The company has built integrated market center facilities representing varied industries in major U.S. cities including Chicago; New York City; Washington, DC; and Los Angeles. The company also hosts dozens of major trade shows and more than 300 conferences, seminars, and special events throughout North America. It represents industries ranging from contemporary art to construction and real estate.

According to MMPI, developer Forest City Enterprises (Cleveland) first put forward the idea of a medical mart in Cleveland in the mid-1980s. Two decades later, in late 2005, MMPI's interest in investing in Cleveland reportedly began with an informal conversation between its company's president, Christopher Kennedy, and Cuyahoga County Commissioner Tim Hagan. In addition, MMPI reports that around the same time it received a call from Cleveland Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove, who contacted the company to present an idea tantamount to the Cleveland Medical Mart.

In recent months, moving the Cleveland plan forward hinged on a vote by the Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners for a proposed quarter-percent sales tax increase that would raise $350 million to fund at least part of the project. In late July, the commissioners passed the tax increase in a 2–1 vote. The project was on hold for several weeks after the vote, pending the outcome of an effort to place on the ballot a referendum on the tax increase. But the clock ran out on the referendum effort before opponents could collect the required signatures. Officials are now in the process of identifying a site for the new facilities.

As conceived, the medical mart in Cleveland would be a collection of permanent showrooms displaying healthcare products ranging from imaging machines to scrubs and scalpels. Like the New York facility, the showrooms' key clientele would be the healthcare decision makers, including doctors, nurses, and facility managers.

In selecting Cleveland over larger cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, MMPI says it looked to Cleveland as "the medical capital of North America." On its Cleveland Medical Mart Web site, www.merchandisemart.com/clevelandmedicalmart, the company states, "The medical communities of the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve, MetroHealth, and the University Hospitals of Cleveland are located within blocks of each other, and these institutions are home to more physicians than all the hospitals in Boston. Cleveland is also home to myriad medical manufacturers and small businesses that are leading the way in innovative research and technology. MMPI feels that Cleveland's critical mass of medical professionals, along with its layout and improving infrastructure, make it a very attractive and convenient meeting place for the healthcare industry's major players."

Coupled with a new trade show facility capable of hosting large-scale temporary exhibits, a medical mart in Cleveland could bring as many as 50 mid-size to large medical trade shows to the city each year, generating more than $300 million in annual economic impact, MMPI says.

© 2007 Canon Communications LLC

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