You won’t find Vital Dent in some cushy second-floor office building. The franchise of full-service dentist offices is popping up in street-level retail spaces throughout Manhattan.
It’s a move that relays the goal of Vital Dent to provide dental access to a largely middle-class clientele, says Dylan Jeannotte, the company’s director of new business development. The Spanish chain, which has about 200 branches worldwide including nine in New York City, relies on a strange sort of appeal, since the idea of walking in off the street to see a dentist in the same way one might stroll into Circuit City to buy a TV may seem a bit strange to Americans.
But the convenience factor also is part of a growing trend in Manhattan real estate, says Sal Ferrigno, managing director at Robert K. Futterman & Associates.
Ferrigno, who is closing a deal with Vital Dent for an 1,800-square-foot lease at 57th Street and Second Avenue, say more retail space is opening up to cosmetically oriented service businesses. The arrival in New York of Brite Smile, a teeth-whitening spa chain, is another example, he says.
Vital Dent, which plans to open 25 locations in Manhattan by the end of the year, “has been very aggressive in Manhattan, but they’re price conscious,” Ferrigno says. “They aren’t going to Madison Avenue; they work on a budget.”
One potential obstacle for the Iberian incisor drillers is rapidly rising retail rents. Average rents on Manhattan’s major retail corridors rose 19 percent to $329 a square foot between March 2005 and March 2006, according to a recent report by the Real Estate Board of New York.
“We are finding that in a lot of retail space we were considering, prices have jumped so high, at least 15 to 30 percent more than last year,” Jeannotte said.
Another limiting factor is the chain’s strategy of using only street-level retail space, eschewing the traditional higher-floor office suites where dentist offices are typically found.
Richard Hodos, a principal at retail brokerage Madison HGCD, said the company might not be able to afford the pricey street-level retail spaces they seek. There is only so much customer turnover one can achieve in a dental office.
“They have a maximum amount of business they can do, like a spa, where they provide a service that takes a standard amount of time,” he said. Hodos thinks Vital Dent may benefit more in locations in the outer boroughs and suburban areas, where the rents aren’t as high as in Manhattan.
“Street-level space is two or three times as high as second-level space,” Hodos said. “It’s not unusual for rent to be in excess of $200 a foot in the Upper East Side. I find it very hard to imagine that they’ll be able to afford it.”
Vital Dent now has seven locations in Manhattan and two in Queens. Addresses show the company’s desire to be near major thoroughfares: they include 144 Chambers Street, 37 West 14th Street, 248 West 23rd Street, 108 East 23rd Street, 175 Madison Avenue and 518 8th Avenue (both near 34th Street) and 1760 Second Avenue (off 92nd Street).
The company plans to open more locations on the Upper West Side on Amsterdam Avenue as well as in Astoria, Queens. Parts of Broadway and the 57th Street corridor are other locations where Vital Dent is looking to expand.
“The company has a lot of experience with this type of business,” said Ferrigno, who thinks the offices will fair well in the city. “Most people do not have a dentist and will probably use Vital Dent for basic services.”
In a setup that uses about 2,000 square feet, Vital Dent offices provide all general, orthodontic, implant and cosmetic dental services. The company is also expanding in Miami, where at least 10 offices are expected to open before 2007.
“We are focusing on large commercial centers where we want a lot of foot traffic,” Jeannotte says.
Vital Dent is also opening five offices in the greater Boston area.
“We are servicing the entire population but we’re typically for middle income,” Jeannotte says. “People are constantly moving all over the place and we offer a quality service that fits their needs.”