Medical Office Buildings Continue To Stoke Net Lease Investors’ Interest

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Medical office buildings have emerged as a favorite among investors interested in single-tenant net lease opportunities, according to a new report from Colliers.

Overall, the STNL space posted strong performance in the first half of 2022 and hit a historic high of $40.1 billion in investment sales, according Colliers. However, volume in Q2 fell 35% over Q1 numbers and 17% year-over-year.

Despite that, the medical sub-sector remains strong. Colliers’ Jay Patel cites as one reason “predictable” cash flows and the price range on assets that appeals to both institutional and private investors alike. In addition, there’s COVID-19:

“Pandemic investors flocked to the medical office sector for its perception as a safe, interest- resistant and now pandemic-resistant asset,” Patel says. “During the pandemic, investors were eager to snatch up anything medical-related regardless of lease term, credit, and location.”

Construction pipeline delays have also contributed to an ongoing chasm between supply and demand, which has compressed cap rates.

“Net lease has also risen due to the ongoing supply chain disruptions, slowing the delivery of new product,” Patel says. “This has pushed more healthcare tenants to consider alternative space solutions like the adaptive reuse of traditional office or retail properties.”

Of course, the capital markets have changed this year — and medical office isn’t immune to those shifts. Patel notes that “while capital is still being deployed, investors are no longer scooping up just anything that’s healthcare assets.”

“Buyers are now taking a closer look at credit, lease terms and location. With inflation looming in everyone’s mind, assets that have strong rent increases are experiencing stronger activity,” Patel says. “To bridge the gap for investors that are feeling the burden of this rising interest rate environment, many developers and sellers are starting to shift pricing, which is creeping back toward pre-pandemic standards.

Colliers Julie A. Johnson predicts the asset class will continue to be strong in the near future despite rising capital costs.

“The past several years have been banner years for investors with historically low cap rates and many more buyers in the market than sellers,” Johnson told GlobeSt.com in an earlier interview. But “medical office buildings will continue to be strong with not only the increase of the senior population but also the population increase in many markets, specifically the Sun Belt cities.”

Patel says good lease terms and credit will be critical moving forward into 2023. While previously just one of those elements was needed to sell a property.

“Today’s market conditions necessitate all three factors carrying equal importance when appealing to investors,” Patel says.

 

Source: GlobeSt.

Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford Plans $60M Medical Office Building In Middle Tennessee

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A multimillion dollar health care facility is coming to Rutherford County.

Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford will begin construction on a $60 million multispecialty medical office building on the hospital’s campus in 2023, according to a news release. A portion of the 102,000-square-foot building will house The Ascension Saint Thomas Cancer Center, a new cancer partnership with Tennessee Oncology.

Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford is Middle Tennessee’s seventh-largest hospital, according to Nashville Business Journal research, with 286 beds and more than 1,000 employees. The announcement comes in the midst of a $110 million campus investment into the main Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford hospital, which is set for completion in 2024 and includes the construction of a parking garage.

The Ascension Saint Thomas Cancer Center will feature surgical, medical and radiation cancer care specialists who will focus on cancer provention, detection and treatment, according to the release. Tennessee Oncology is one of the largest oncology practices in the U.S., according to the release, with 30 centers across 30 states.

“Cancer impacts more than 1.7 million Americans annually. We want to reimagine cancer prevention and care to make screenings and treatment more convenient for the many individuals right here in Murfreesboro and Rutherford County who have been or will be affected,” Gordon Ferguson, president and CEO of Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford, said in the release. “We are honored to partner with the innovators at Tennessee Oncology in a shared goal of fighting cancer in our community.”

 

Source: Nashville Business Journal

AEW JV Acquires Eight Medical Buildings In Seven States Across The Southern And Midwestern U.S.

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A joint venture between AEW Capital Management and Flagship Healthcare Trust have completed the acquisition of eight medical buildings totaling 145,561 square feet in seven states across the Southern and Midwestern U.S. in a series of compounding transactions.

The purchase was financed through a loan by Fifth Third Bank, who had secured a senior credit facility for the buyers. Following the acquisition, Flagship will provide property and asset management services for the portfolio.

The facilities, which consist entirely of ambulatory surgery centers, are located in Texas, Arizona, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee and Florida. Nearly all of the tenants leasing space within the portfolio specialize in health care, with three quarters of them in top five national surgery centers and health systems.

Two of the properties in the portfolio include the Kleimen Evangelista Eye Center, located at 350 E Interstate 20 in Arlington, Texas, and the Joliet Surgery Center, located at 998 129th Infantry Dr. in Joliet, Ill.

The Kleiman Evangelista Eye Center was built in 2015, and was previously owned by the Inland Real Estate Group, who had purchased it in 2017, according to CommercialEdge information. The property totals 27,500 square feet and is fully occupied by a leading Texas ophthalmology provider. Situated the Interstate 20 highway, the facility can be quickly accesses by patients throughout the suburbs of Arlington, as well as the larger Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Fifth Third Bank Executive Managing Director Michael Perillo oversaw the financing of the transaction.

The Medical Office Mires

Health-care and life science facilities remain a resilient commercial real estate investment, with investors eager to get their hands on these properties. The sector recorded more than $2.9 billion in transactions in the second quarter of 2022, according to data from a report from the Brown Gibbons Lang & Co. While that marks a slight decrease from the $3.3 billion in the same period of 2021, it significantly outranks activity in other office markets.

Market Street Health Properties and Sixth Street recently created a platform to invest $300 million in medical office buildings around the nation.

 

Source: Commercial Property Executive