Expanding dental practice adds Portland office
Courtesy / Cardente Real Estate
Jin Hwang, who has seven Gentle Dental locations, will open an Advanced Family Dentistry office at 1290 Congress St., Portland, which he purchased for $457,000 from Burgess Advertising and Marketing.
PORTLAND — When Jin Hwang — who originally hails from South Korea and moved to the U.S. when he was 9 years old — graduated from Boston University’s Goldman School of Dental Medicine, with a Doctor of Medical Dentistry degree, he learned there was a need for dentists in Maine.
He visited Maine, loved it, moved his family up and, in 2007, started a group dental practice under the Gentle Dental affiliation.
His practice has now grown to seven locations and nine dentists in southern Maine.
Hwang recently added an eighth location with the purchase of 1290 Congress St. in Portland. He plans to call the new office Advanced Family Dentistry, to reflect his philosophy that, in dentistry, everyone should be treated like family.
Hwang bought the 4,248-square-foot office building, on 0.24 acres, under the name Joy Real Estate of Portland LLC, from Meredith Burgess, owner of an advertising agency, for $457,000. Andrew Ingalls of Malone Commercial Brokers represented Burgess and Mark Sandler of Cardente Real Estate represented Hwang in the deal, which closed Dec. 16.
Sandler and Hwang got to know each other when Hwang contacted Sandler about a listing. Sandler said he keeps an eye out for properties he knows will interest Hwang, both for investment and for the dental practice.
“My focus is to build relationships with my clients so that I am able to identify the right opportunities,” said Sandler. “Jin and I have been working together for the past couple of years and this property fit perfectly into his business plan because of its easily accessible location, visibility, price and layout.”
New owner to spend up to $600K in renovations
The three-story building dates to 1915 but is in excellent shape, and already has an attractive professional layout with 13 offices, reception area, two conference rooms and a full basement. The site has 15 parking spaces and it’s easily accessible in the greater Portland area.
Hwang will use the ground floor for his dental practice, and 1,000 to 1,200 square feet of the second floor for a dental lab. The third floor and the rest of the second floor will be leased for residential use, he said. The expected refit investment, to include system updates, will be $500,000 to $600,000.
“It’s pretty straightforward,” Hwang said.
In the meantime, said Ingalls, Burgess has leased space at 6 Fundy Road in Falmouth for her business, Burgess Advertising & Marketing. The smaller, 2,700-square-foot building is the right size for her current staff of about 10, he said.
“She was simplifying. The other building was only being half used,” Ingalls said. “So she thought it was time to sell.”
The hunt for a new space was tricky, Ingalls said.
“You’d be surprised, looking for office space that has parking. It’s thin,” he said. “There’s not an abundance of office inventory. The market’s good for the sellers. And that’s healthy.”
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