Courtesy / Hurt & Co.
Melinda Hurt
Updated: September 4, 2023
A physical therapy practice grows with move to larger space in Scarborough
Courtesy / Hurt & Co.
The new location offers a barbell club and PT services, with plans to sublease space to other health care practitioners.
A 5,361-square-foot lease in Scarborough checked all the boxes for a physical therapist who was ready to expand from her current space of about 300 square feet in South Portland.
Melinda Hurt co-founded SoPo Physical Therapy three years ago. At the new spot at 71 U.S. Route 1 in Scarborough, she’s rebranding as Hurt & Co.
Sasha Bogdanovics Phillips of the Boulos Co. and Chris Craig of the Dunham Group handled the transaction.
“She can easily hit all markets being situated on U.S. Route 1 with easy access to I-295 and I-95, and right on the SoPo/Scarborough town line,” said Phillips.
Hurt has a doctorate in physical therapy from the University of New England and a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She has been in the physical therapy field since 2011.
Specialties include extensive training in manual therapy and manipulation, strength training, analysis of lifting mechanics, rehabbing injuries, running/gait analysis, vestibular rehabilitation and balance training.
Hurt is also a powerlifter and has competed in the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic.
“I have won almost every meet I have competed in and was in the top 20 in the world in my weight class”
Courtesy / The Dunham Group
A 5,361-square-foot leased suite at 71 U.S. Route 1 in Scarborough checked all the boxes for physical therapist Melinda Hurt who was ready to expand from 300 square feet in South Portland.
The business offers services for physical therapy; including all orthopedics injuries and conditions, sports related injuries, pelvic floor physical therapy, preventative treatment and maintenance, as well as performance and strength training.
Originally from Connecticut, she visited Maine with her family as a child and moved to Maine for graduate school.
Hurt began to look for a larger location in order to accommodate her growing clientele, start a member’s-only barbell club, and hire health care practitioners who would complement her practice.
The new location will offer the barbell club and Hurt’s PT services, including manual therapy such as osteopathic joint manipulation and corrective exercises. She’s hired a pelvic floor physical therapist who is due to onboard in August. Plans include subleasing space to other health care practitioners in functional medicine, such as massage therapy and acupuncture, to complement physical therapy.
There will also be an infrared sauna.
The lease includes eight offices that will be designated for health care practitioners. Half of the space was a former gym, and that will remain so, with swipe-card availability for members from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m.
“This is the first time I’m hiring,” said Hurt. “We worked out of a small, 300-square-foot room for three years. I’ve wanted to expand.
At the South Portland location, Hurt started with a good handful of clients. Today, she has 50 to 60 hours of one-on-one clients.
Getting the Scarborough location set up means fitting up the gym with equipment and rubber mats. In the treatment rooms, work is underway to take up carpets and install flooring. A kitchen will be walled off to become a break room. Signage will be installed.
“It’s not too huge of a build-out,” she said. “I have a local artist working on my logo. We’ll install swipe-card access to the doors and all of the medical offices will have swipe entry.”
Hurt didn’t disclose buildout costs but said she’s covering it through savings.
Hurt has business and financial mentors through SCORE Maine and Maine Small Business Development Centers. Friends with backgrounds in computers and other areas have helped get the business set up.
The space is part of a one-story 63,848-square-foot Class A office and medical building called the Elevation Center, that’s across from the Maine Medical Center’s Scarborough campus, according to the listing. There are 366 parking spaces.
The plan, to start, is to hire three or four physical therapists and a front desk/office manager.
“The business thing was completely new,” she said. “I love physical therapy, and I take a ton of continuing education courses. After a while, it was, What’s the next thing I can tackle? Opening the business and becoming an entrepreneur has been a huge challenge, but in an amazing way.”
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