HICKORY — Charlotte-based Flagship Healthcare Properties says it has bought the medical office building and ambulatory surgery center anchored by Graystone Eye on Century Place Southeast — the largest single-asset purchase, by price, in the history of its private REIT.
In a Sept. 14 company announcement, Flagship said the Class A campus at 2424 Century Place SE is fully leased and sits in Hickory’s primary outpatient medical corridor. The building totals 92,516 square feet. It opened in 2008 and expanded in 2019 with more administrative space, exam and procedure rooms, an aesthetic clinic, and upgrades to the surgery center.
The surgery center operates under a North Carolina Certificate of Need and includes four AAAHC-accredited operating rooms, according to the release.
Who occupies the building
Graystone Eye, founded in 1969, is a physician-led ophthalmology practice serving Western North Carolina from multiple locations. Flagship’s announcement puts the practice at more than 350 employees, with 14 board-certified ophthalmologists and five optometrists, including eight fellowship-trained specialists.
CEO Andrew Tate said Graystone chose Flagship for healthcare real-estate expertise and that the practice remains independent and physician-owned. “Hickory is home,” he said, and the practice plans to keep serving patients from its main campus there along with its other locations.
What Flagship says about the deal
Blake Bratcher, Flagship’s partner and executive vice president of acquisitions, called the asset a high-quality outpatient campus that expands the firm’s regional footprint and supports outpatient care delivery.
Flagship said the property was acquired through Flagship Healthcare Trust, its private REIT, and that the firm will handle property management and asset management. The company’s release does not disclose the purchase price.
Earlier coverage: Ernest Health plans freestanding rehab hospital in Hickory as part of six-site North Carolina push
Source note (required on publish)
Tip that surfaced this story: a local news report referencing Flagship Healthcare’s Hickory acquisition. Verified independently from Flagship Healthcare Properties’ Sept. 14, 2026, company announcement. No purchase price is stated in that release; none is published here. No photos or wording from the tip outlet were reused.
