Perfect Storm – MedProperties’ Harrison Street Portfolio acquisition
As anyone who follows the healthcare real estate (HRE) business undoubtedly knows by now, MedProperties Holdings closed on a major transaction Sept. 5: the acquisition of the first 15 properties of the so-called Harrison Street Portfolio, which included 17 assets in 10 states totaling 620,750 square feet at a cost of about $230 million. And in its news release announcing the transaction, MedProperties noted that several of the properties had been threatened by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma but emerged unscathed.
But what didn’t come out in the news release, the participants say, is that the path to a successful closing required the team overcome a lot more than hurricanes. In an exclusive interview with Healthcare Real Estate Insights™, three of the key players in the transaction provided an inside look at the transaction they came to call the “Perfect Storm.”
The story of ‘Project Greyhound’
When three of the key players in the Harrison Street acquisition – Darryl Freling, Steve Hewett and Chris Bodnar – sat down to discuss the deal with HREI™ just nine days after the closing, they seemed simultaneously elated, amazed and a bit weary. Gathering in an empty meeting room Sept. 14 at the Westin Galleria Dallas during a break from the InterFace HRE Conference, they were delighted to have closed the deal, amazed at what it took to get it done and perhaps still a bit fatigued from the grueling six-month process, which Mr. Freling dubbed “Project Greyhound.” (Why Project Greyhound? More on that later.)
