San Antonio · Starting Out
Your first lease sets your overhead for the next decade. We help providers pick the site and negotiate the lease before the money starts going out the door.
Check your lease free Talk to usA new practice has one advantage an established one does not: nothing has been committed yet. Every decision is still open, and the decisions made in the first sixty days, where to be, how much space, who pays for the build-out, determine whether the practice carries a manageable occupancy cost or an anchor.
Rent is only the first. The second is the build-out: a shell space with a large improvement allowance can beat a cheaper second-generation suite, or lose to it badly, depending on what the landlord is actually paying for. The third is time, because rent usually starts before patients do, and how that gap is written into the lease is negotiable.
If a practice loan is funding the build-out, the lender will read the lease. Term length, assignment rights, and whether the landlord will sign a lender's waiver all affect whether the loan closes on time. We negotiate with that in mind rather than discovering it at underwriting.
Demographics, drive times, and payer mix by corridor rather than by gut feel, plus how many competing providers of your specialty already sit inside the trade area.
What each option really costs once you price the build. A former medical or dental suite can save a great deal, or force a layout that costs you an operatory.
Construction and licensing take months. The lease should reflect that your revenue starts later than your occupancy, and that is a negotiated term, not a favor.
New practices are usually asked for a personal guaranty. Whether it is required, how many months it covers, and whether it burns off over time are all negotiable.
Common Questions
Nine to twelve months before you want to open, longer for a ground-up or heavy build. Permitting and construction in San Antonio take longer than most first-time owners expect, and a compressed timeline removes your ability to walk away from a bad deal.
It follows your room count, not a rule of thumb. We size from the exam rooms or operatories you plan to run on day one plus realistic growth, because square footage you do not use is rent you pay every month for the whole term.
Both. Startups are where representation changes the most, because there is no existing lease locking in the mistakes.
Nothing out of pocket. The landlord pays the fee.
Part Of A National Healthcare Practice
In July 2026 Partners Real Estate added Crown Tenant Advisors, an Atlanta firm that has represented only healthcare tenants and buyers since 2009, and launched Partners Healthcare Services: a practice built specifically for medical, dental, and veterinary clients. We are the San Antonio and South Texas arm of it.
That matters when your practice grows past one market. Partners was founded in 1997, has more than 300 professionals, and serves 55 U.S. markets from offices in San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, and Nashville. The healthcare team is licensed across Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Alabama.
And where we do not have an office, we do not hand you to a junior broker in a branch. We bring in the best broker in that market, whatever firm they work for, and run the assignment with them. One relationship covers your second location, whether it is across 1604 or across the country.
Tell us the specialty and the part of town. We will tell you what the real options look like.
Call (210) 384-2342 Email the team