Texas A&M To Build $546M Complex In The Texas Medical Center

/in , , /by

The Texas A&M University system just announced that it will spend more than half a billion dollars to build a new complex in the Texas Medical Center.

The $546M price tag will include the construction of two new towers, as well as the purchase and renovation of a third building. Texas A&M has already acquired 1020 Holcombe Blvd., an 18-story building that is undergoing renovations. The building will be used for the university’s two-degree Engineering Medicine program, which will allow students to earn a master’s degree in engineering from Texas A&M, as well as a medical degree from the university’s Health Science Center.

The purchase and renovations are expected to cost $145M, and the overall project is expected to be completed by the summer. In addition, Texas A&M will build two new towers: a student housing project, and a mixed-use development for medical offices and retail. The mixed-use building is an integrated medical plaza. The 30-story, 587K SF building will contain 72K SF of retail space and 8,700 SF of green space, and will also include a 13-story parking garage and a grocer.

“We’re looking for a grocer for this because we’re trying to support our EnMed students and our Prairie View students. This is the catalyst, and have them a nice, safe place to live,” Texas A&M Vice Chancellor of Business Affairs Phillip Ray said at a press conference.

The medical plaza is expected to break ground in the fall of 2021, and completion is slated for June 2023. The student housing project will be a 19-story, 365K SF building with 572 units and 704 beds. It will include a 1.2M SF parking garage with 3,444 spaces. The project is expected to break ground in October, and is slated for completion in June 2022. Both projects will be constructed through public-private partnerships. The combined price tag of the two new projects is $401M.

Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp told attendees at the press conference that the new complex would help bring the assets of the Texas Medical Center to the rest of the state.

“What we want to do is take the future of medicine, which is embodied in the Engineering Medicine program, where really smart kids are going to become the developers of the medical care technology of the future,” Sharp said.

“We’ve done a little over $2B in P3, privately funded projects during Chancellor John Sharp’s tenure, and this will be the largest one,” Ray said.

Sharp has been chancellor since 2011. The developer of the P3 projects is Medistar Corp. American Triple I Partners, founded by Texas A&M alumni Henry Cisneros, is part of the financing team. EYP led the design of the renovated building, while Kirksey Architecture designed the two new towers. Linbeck Group will construct the two new buildings, while Vaughn Construction is the contractor for 1020 Holcombe Blvd.

 

Source: Bisnow

Borrowers And Lenders Are Adapting To The Hot Heathcare Real Estate Market

/in , , , /by

When it comes to financing medical office building (MOB) acquisitions, the cost of capital is not always the most important factor in choosing a lender.

“In fact, when a nine-property MOB portfolio in the Atlanta area changed hands in a sale-leaseback transaction in late 2019, the borrower on the $25 million loan chose to go with a lender that did not have the lowest cost but that knew the tenant best so that they could make sure that everything would go quickly through due diligence and get to closing and not hit any bumps along the way,” said Sabrina Solomiany, a first VP, US Healthcare Capital Markets Debt & Structured Finance with CBRE Group Inc. (NYSE: CBRE), who helped line up the debt for the buyer. “It was very competitive, but ultimately we went with Synovus, with part of the reason being that even though they did not necessarily have the most competitive terms, they actually had a banking relationship with the physician group.”

Ms. Solomiany made her remarks during the recent Revista Medical Real Estate Investment Forum 2020, held Jan. 27-29 at PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. She was part of a panel session titled, “Debt Outside the Box: Construction, Mezz & Alternative Asset Classes.” Joining Ms. Solomiany on the panel were: Natalie Sproull, VP with Capital One (NYSE: COF), as moderator; Jim Barnes, director of Healthcare Specialty Lending with Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE: SNV); and Andrew Smith, managing director with Los Angeles-based Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP.

During the session, the panelists discussed some of the latest trends in healthcare real estate (HRE) financing when it comes to acquisitions as well as development deals. Part of the discussion focused on how and why certain HRE deals get done.

“When it comes to construction financing of medical projects, people are often surprised that the first few things I consider are not always financial in nature, said Mr. Barnes of Columbus, Ga.-based Synovous. “I like to look more at the expertise of the developer,” he said, “making sure that the developer really has a deep experience in delivering medical properties on time and within budget. This has become much more important recently with the trend toward greater institutional equity investment and, for the most part, the institutional investors having much less expertise in construction than the developers. Secondly, the firm looks for strong sponsorship either from a hospital system or a longstanding, stabilized private practice – something that will create an anchor within the property.”

 

Source: HREI

Medical Office Building Sales Surpass $10 Billion For Fifth Consecutive Year

/in , , /by

U.S. medical office building sales continued in an upward trend through the fourth quarter of 2019 and into 2020, driven by steady M&A activity within the healthcare market, says Cleveland-based Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL).

Total MOB sales reached $11.2 billion in 2019, marking the fifth consecutive year that sales surpassed $10 billion and the third successive year topping $11 billion.

“The 2019 tally underscores the fact that medical office properties remain a core asset class,” says BGL. “Demographic and healthcare industry trends are firmly entrenched and forecasted to persist, supporting long-term demand for medical office space.”

Q4 2019 saw a total of 379 MOB deals valued at $4.3 billion, representing a 20% increase in transaction value. The average price per square foot decreased by 8% to $274 per square foot. The cap rate remained unchanged to 6.6%, pushing the 12-month average to 6.6%—a marginal contraction from from 6.7% over the previous 12-month average.

Based in Chicago, MB Real Estate (MBRE) emerged with a 29% share of acquisition volume in the Southeast market and a 12% share nationally in Q4 2019, according to BGL. MBRE’s reach in the Southeast was underscored by the purchase of 900 Village Square Crossing in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida..

Completed in 2012, the two-story, multi-tenant building with 38,944 rentable square feet was acquired from Prestige for approximately $381 per square foot, which is 15% and 23% above the regional and national averages, respectively.

“While sales volume is down year-over-year, pricing remains strong across medical office investments as investors seek to take advantage of continued strength in the U.S. economy,” says BGL. “We continue to see strong demand for medical office assets from public and private REITS as well as private equity and foreign capital investors. Major players dominated M&A activity throughout 2019, which is likely to continue; however, new investors are entering the marketplace, which is setting the stage for a busy first half in 2020,” according to BGL’s report. It also cites a fact that bears repeating: “U.S. healthcare jobs outpaced nearly every other sector during 2019.”

 

Source: Connect Media