ConvenientMD will relocate to accommodate growth

The urgent health care provider is charting future growth of about 300 new employees every year for the next 5 years

With a current headcount of about 1,200, ConvenientMD is charting future growth of about 300 new employees every year for the next five years.

To help accommodate that growth, the New Hampshire-based urgent health care provider plans to leave its current headquarters at the Pease International Tradeport in Portsmouth for larger accommodations elsewhere in the city.

It announced plans recently to relocate a few miles away to the newly developed West End Yards off Route 1 (Lafayette Road) in Portsmouth.

According to West End Yards developer Torrington Properties, ConvenientMD will occupy a total of 32,625 square feet, including the entire second floor of the commercial building known as Building C.

“We were outgrowing our current space and needed to find another that could accommodate our needs as we grew,” ConvenientMD CEO Gareth Dickens said in a statement.

The company is now located at Pease at 111 New Hampshire Avenue on the second floor of the Seacoast Media Group facility, where it’s been since 2017.

ConvenientMD owns and operates 35 walk-in medical clinics in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts, opening its first clinic in the Granite State in Windham in 2012.

According to the company, the new space will be about four times as large as ConvenientMD’s current headquarters. It will include room to grow its administrative offices such as its clinical quality oversight and support, training rooms, finance, IT and marketing departments, and it will have space for clinicians to virtually serve patients via ConvenientMD’s expanding telehealth service. There will also be large common areas with recreational activities and amenities for team members.

Dickens noted that the company wanted an opportunity to stay in Portsmouth, but somewhere that offered more than just office space.

“West End Yards is an emergent community, with homes, restaurants and a walkable, bikeable area that our team members can enjoy living and playing in when they’re not busy providing high quality and affordable care to New Englanders,” said Dickens. He said ConvenientMD is growing quickly, with a new clinic opening each month, on average.

West End Yards is a growing residential-commercial development project on about 10 acres bound by Route 1, Hodgdon Way, and Cate Street in Portsmouth. When fully complete, it will feature 250 one- and two-bedroom apartments and 44,000 square feet of retail and office space.

Buffalo Wild Wings, having vacated its location in the Mall at Fox Run in Newington in 2021, is slated to open a new restaurant at West End Yards.

“We are very pleased to welcome ConvenientMD to West End Yards,” said Torrington Chief Operating Officer Matt Morgan. “This is a growing, vibrant company that didn’t have to leave Portsmouth to find what they were looking for.”

According to Morgan, West End Yards has proven to be a very attractive destination for residents and businesses alike. It was designed as a live-work-play community, featuring professional offices, highly visible retail space, outdoor patio areas, and public green space to complement the residential units. Morgan said the first apartment building was fully leased within three months and the second building is about 90 percent leased.

More announcements concerning commercial tenants are expected in the near future, according to Morgan.

ConvenientMD said a small part of its space will also be utilized by OI Infusion, another company founded by Dickens, which provides community-based specialty medication infusions across numerous physician and ambulatory offices at a fraction of the usual cost, making these healthcare services significantly more affordable in over 20 states.

ConvenientMD hopes to begin occupancy of the commercial building in late 2022 to early 2023, when interior construction is completed.

The company started in Portsmouth with about 15 people at 18 Sheafe Street in downtown Portsmouth. The idea for a series of standalone health clinics – unaffiliated with a hospital or major care institution – germinated in a 2008 discussion between Dickens and co-founder Max Puyanic.

Puyanic left ConvenientMD in March 2020 and founded Optima Dermatology, a series of standalone facilities offering general dermatology and cosmetology services that also include pathology, surgery, and clinical trial and research.

Torrington Properties, founded in 2014 with offices in Boston, Mass., and Durham, NH, acquires, develops and manages a wide range of properties, including multifamily, office, industrial, retail, hospitality and student housing.

Torrington is developing West End Yards as a  joint venture with The Mount Vernon Company and The Dolben Company, Inc.

According to a press statement, Mount Vernon Company, headed by Bruce A. Percelay, is widely regarded as one of the top developers in New England and known for socially responsible activities and community involvement.

Dolben is a dynamic real estate firm, with a family-inspired culture, developing and managing best-in-class multifamily communities throughout the New England and Mid-Atlantic markets since 1929, according to the statement.