A large group of owners pooled money over a long period of time to build the Emergency Animal Clinic of Collin County, serving four cities.
TWENTY-ONE VETERINARIANS IN COLLIN COUNTY, Texas, agreed they needed a lifesaver. Exhausted and wary from handling emergency cases on their own, they decided to start an emergency/referral clinic in a small, leasehold storefront where they could send their emergency cases. They found their lifesaver, but quickly had another headache to deal with: making monthly payments on the lease. And as the years passed, it became evident that the Emergency Animal Clinic of Collin County in Plano, Texas, was successful enough to warrant a free-standing facility.
So the group started saving and 19 years later began developing plans to build a new facility—a facility that was named a 2006 Veterinary Economics Hospital Design Competition Merit Award Winner. “We weren’t doing this to create a huge profit center,” says Dr. Jim Sharp, one of the owners. “We wanted to continue to provide this area with outstanding emergency care and provide specialty care in the same building.”
Decision by committee
A committee of four owners was responsible for selecting and purchasing the site, interviewing and choosing an architect and builder, obtaining financing, developing financial projections, and overseeing the construction process. And if they needed to, they consulted with the other 17 owners. “I don’t think anybody objected to what we did,” says Dr. Sharp, who was on the committee. “We didn’t have anyone who was difficult to deal with in our group. We all wanted the same end results.”…