Healthcare Trust Raises BioSquare Temps

By Gail Kalinoski, Contributing Editor

670 Albany St., Boston

Healthcare Trust of America, Inc. made approximately $190 million in acquisitions in the second quarter, including the largest purchase – 670 Albany St., a 161,254-square-foot biomedical research facility in Boston for $101.5 million.

The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based REIT recently closed on the deal with Spaulding & Slye Investments, giving it about 844,000 square feet of space in its largest market. The REIT said in a news release its Boston portfolio now totals $364 million in investments.

The latest acquisition is fully leased to Boston University and Boston Medical Center and is located in BioSquare, Boston University’s renowned bio-research park in Boston’s South End. It houses hematology, pathology and infectious disease laboratories and a 300-seat auditorium.

Frank Petz, a managing director with JLL’s Capital Markets team in New England, said the state-of-the-art research facilities and the BioSquare location were key drivers in the sale to HTA. Petz and fellow Managing Directors Jessica Hughes and Mindy Berman led the JLL team on the transaction.

“This asset boasts the highest quality lab facilities as well as classroom space,” Petz said in a JLL release. “We’re seeing a tightening market for office/lab properties, making 670 Albany Street all the more attractive to investors.”

HTA said its entire Boston portfolio is on-campus or affiliated with leading healthcare systems in the area, including BMC, Steward Healthcare and Tufts Medical Center. Like 670 Albany St., the other three second-quarter purchases were all on hospital or university campuses or aligned with a market-leading healthcare system, according to the REIT.

“Our acquisitions over the last several quarters underline our business strategy to focus on accumulating critical mass in key markets,” Scott Peters, HTA chairman & CEO, said in a prepared statement. “Establishing scale in these markets allows our in-house asset management and leasing platform to drive earnings growth, maximize expense efficiencies and create long-term value for shareholders.”

The remaining HTA acquisitions were also in existing markets for the REIT – Charleston, S.C., Indianapolis and Raleigh, N.C,  – and extended relationships with current tenants including the Medical University of South Carolina, Community Health in Indianapolis and Rex Hospital in Raleigh.

In Charleston, HTA purchased a 40,000-square-foot medical office building leased to MUSC, expanding its portfolio in that market to 253,000 square feet and $65 million invested. HTA acquired a 126,000-square-fot medical office building in Indianapolis leased to Community Health, expanding the portfolio there to 976,000 square feet and $156 million invested. In Raleigh, HTA bought three medical office buildings with a total of 130,000 square feet, expanding the Raleigh portfolio to 414,000 square feet and $96 million invested. The amount spent to make these new purchases was not broken down, but equaled about $88.5 million.