News & Analysis: REIT nabs $161.6M deal

SELLER IS AA-RATED SOUTH CAROLINA SYSTEM

By John Mugford

The 746-bed Greenville Memorial Hospital in Greenville, S.C., is the flagship
facility for the Greenville Hospital System (GHS).
Photo courtesy of Greenville Hospital System

Finally, a headliner of a transaction in the medical office building (MOB) market.

In what should prove to be one of the biggest – if not the biggest – MOB transactions of 2009, Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT Inc. announced July 15 that it has agreed to acquire a 16-property, 855,000 square foot MOB portfolio from Greenville Hospital System (GHS), headquartered in Greenville, S.C.

The agreed upon price is about $161.6 million, or $189 per square foot (PSF), and the deal is expected to close in mid-September. While further details were not released, CB Richard Ellis (NYSE: CRE), in its second quarter National Medical Office Update, lists the cap rate at a reported 7.96 percent.

Eleven of the buildings are located on GHS campuses, while five are off-campus facilities.

The buyer, the G&E real estate investment trust (REIT), is in the process of pulling away from its sponsorship by Santa Ana, Calif.-based Grubb & Ellis Co. (NYSE: GBE), creating a separately registered, non-traded REIT.

So, at about the same time that the deal closes, the buyer expects to be renamed Healthcare Trust of America Inc. (HTA). Officials with the privately held REIT are in the process of moving toward self-management and expect to be independent of Grubb & Ellis by Sept. 20, according to a Form S-11 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The full content of this article is only available to paid subscribers. If you are an active subscriber, please log in. To subscribe, please click here: SUBSCRIBE

Existing Users Log In
   

Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.