Medical Trade Center rivalry simmering twixt Nashville and New York
By Milt Capps
If it involved a new musical opening on Broadway, New York City might wish Nashville and Cleveland good luck, by saying "Break a Leg!" as the curtain rises.In reality, business groups in all three cities are pursuing similar medical trade-center projects; and, this morning Michael Resnick, executive vice president with New York City-based World Product Centre Marketing, said his team wishes "all those other projects success." In an interview today with VNC, Resnick said he believes the WPC project, which emphasizes continual, rather than periodic exposition activity and intensive educational and professional training offerings, is markedly different than both the $300 million Nashville Medical Trade Center, which was announced in May by Trammel Crow's Market City Management; and, the proposed $420 million Cleveland Medical Mart. A recent publicity release from WPC quoted Nashvillian Clayton McWhorter (at left) as a fan of the Big Apple project. McWhorter is the widely known former president and chief operating officer of Hospital Corporation of America; the founder of private-equity investor Clayton Associates; and, most recently, a champion of healthcare reform through two nonprofits, the Rolling Hills Group and ShoutAmerica. Asked about that quote by VNC, McWhorter said with a note of wry humor that he had agreed to be quoted only because he had been asked that favor by a longtime business associate, Chuck Lauer. McWhorter said that while he is not participating in the Nashville effort, he has been aware of it since being approached by Nashville-based businessman Dan McVickers. He said McVickers started the ball rolling on the Nashville Medical Trade Center project by contacting executives with Trammel Crow and gathering local interests. McVickers noted he has logged many hours over the years traveling to farflung tradeshow destinations, in furtherance of his portfolio of small businesses. McWhorter indicated that while he suspects a legitimate case might be made for health-medical trade centers in Nashville and-or New York City, he's not actively participating in any such projects and hasn't subjected the issue to his "A-to-Z" evaluation. Meanwhile, Resnick said his sales and marketing team is promoting the proposed NYC venue "nationally and internationally," though he would not provide specific tenant targets based in the Nashville region. Both Resnick and John Strong, president of World Product Centre Marketing, sidestep the issue of city rivalries, arguing that regional venues will not undermine a leading role for WPC, and emphasizing what they describe as WPC's comparative advantages over other sites. Strong recently penned a column for readers of Cleveland's online Med City News, in which he lays out the case for WPC. In that piece and in Resnick's interview with VNC this morning, each gentleman stressed New York City's location at what they describe as the epicenter of a unique regional concentration of healthcare services, education, transportation and professional resources, as well as the city's legendary cultural assets. Strong (at right) also stressed in his column that WPC is uniquely prepared to tap into the corporate finance and venture-capital community, and to provide a venue for introduction of innovative new technology and services. Illustrating WPC's aggressive efforts, Resnick said today his organization is proceeding vigorously with creating additional partnerships, in addition to the eleven companies recently named as charter sponsors of WPC. Using an example he seemed to pick from the air, Resnick noted that if, for example, Hill-Rom Services, based in Indiana, wanted to demonstrate their hospital beds and other goods, they could simply travel to the WPC, rather than visiting smaller venues throughout the year.
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