Sacred Heart Medical Center has made an offer to buy the Fifth & Browne Medical Center, a busy 66,000-square-foot complex at 104 W. Fifth at the base of the South Hill.


We made the offer because of the location, says Sacred Heart spokeswoman Marilyn Thordarson. The location is an opportunity for us for potential future use.


The purchase offer, for an undisclosed amount, is for two linked medical buildings that make up Fifth & Browne Medical Center, and for the centers parking lots to the south across Fifth Avenue, she says.


Thordarson says the hospital has no specific plans for the clinic property for now. Even if Sacred Heart were to close on the purchase, the complexs leases with its tenants would be honored and current uses would continue for now. She points out, however, that the Sacred Heart campus is becoming crowded, and the hospital is always interested in adding to its landholdings in the immediate area to accommodate future growth.


The offer requires a due-diligence period that already is under way, Thordarson says. Sacred Heart is having the complex inspected and the leases evaluated, and then will decide whether to continue to pursue the purchase.


The complex is owned by a group of physicians that includes both retired doctors and doctors who currently have practices in the buildings. The complex was put up for sale last month, says one of the partners, who prefers not to be named.


The east building of the medical center was built in the 1950s, and the west building was added in the late 1970s. Craig Soehren, of Kiemle & Hagood Co., is representing the Fifth & Browne partners in the pending sale.