At Home in the Mountains
Steamboat Springs is a small community with a population of about 12,000 and a high ratio of dentists to citizens. Drs. Diehl and Schwartz, who are similar in age, met at industry events and became friends through mountain biking and playing golf. They also share similar treatment philosophies and practice goals – primarily, to offer exceptional patient care using the best available equipment and technology.
In 2006, Drs. Comeau and Schwartz were just starting to think about buying or building a new office. Their Patterson Dental Territory Representative Mark Phillips had been meeting with them to discuss the need to support the caliber of dentistry they offered with a practice design and equipment that matched.
They attended a Patterson Dental-sponsored practice design seminar where financing, construction, architectural design and more were discussed. Dr. Comeau, a longtime Patterson Dental customer, says that at the seminar, they met their future architect, Paul Battista, who later connected them to all of the key players essential to bringing the new practice to life. “Before we even started the process of designing and building, Patterson gave us a leg up,” Dr. Schwartz says.
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Dr. Diehl was also looking for a way to grow his practice, but didn’t have the resources to take on such a large project by himself. Dr. Schwartz suggested to his partner that perhaps they should join forces. Dr. Comeau and Dr. Diehl made an effort to get to know each other socially and it appeared to be a good match, so the three doctors agreed to combine practices.
Over the next 18 months, the doctors searched for a new practice location. They found a space downtown with a beautiful view, but it lacked convenient patient parking and required steep upfront costs that would delay the purchase of new equipment that the doctors wanted. The doctors returned to Pine Grove Dental Associates where Drs. Comeau and Schwartz practiced in a five-operatory space and took another look at what it had to offer. It was situated in a prime location, across the street from one of the town’s two grocery stores, it had a public bus stop in front and it was in a well-maintained building with plenty of parking. It had everything going for it, except space.
The existing practice was about 2,000 square feet, but Battista, the architect they’d kept in touch with since the Patterson seminar, estimated that they’d need at least 3,000 square feet. The doctors convinced their next-door neighbor to move into a different office in the building, which gave them an additional 1,000 square feet to play with. Though they had hoped to buy their practice space, the doctors settled for a long-term lease and decided that they would work in Dr. Diehl’s four-operatory practice while the remodel took place.
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