BlackSwan Zine

NEW ORLEANS, Feb 16, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT II, Inc. today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Lacombe Medical Office Building, an approximately 34,000-square-foot, multi-tenant medical facility in the New Orleans suburb of Lacombe. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and the satisfaction [...]

Health care continues to be an oasis in the desert that is Minnesota’s commercial real estate development sector. The latest example: MSP Commercial announced Tuesday that it is about to break ground on a 34,000-square-foot medical office building in Blaine; the building is already 87 percent leased by two health care enterprises.

Healthcare Trust of America, Inc. (”HTA”), a self-managed, non-traded, real estate investment trust, announced the execution of a purchase and sale agreement to acquire the approximately 101,400 square foot Triad Technology Center in Baltimore, Maryland for approximately $29,250,000.

Nationwide Health Properties, Inc. (NYSE: NHP) today announced the acquisition of two medical office buildings under an amendment to the original agreement with Pacific Medical Buildings LLC, a California limited liability company (”Pac Med”), and certain of its affiliates.

I know with the bad headlines about real estate, many investors are steering clear of real estate investment trusts, but the truth is, many REITs have performed solidly over the last few months. I pinpoint one in particular that’s caught my attention in the still weak recovery.

The niche market is still doing better than other sectors, experts say, and some developers are adapting projects to go condo. Physicians who bought medical office condos during the real estate boom should sit tight.

Adventist Health will finance, design and construct a new 25-bed community hospital in Willits, according to a letter of intent signed this week with the Frank R. Howard Foundation. The new hospital design is expected to be complete by fall.

Health care real estate isn’t immune to the ravages of the recession, but it has survived the nation’s weak economy better than most sectors, and some owners and developers of commercial space think it’s positioned to thrive. Among them is Healthcare Trust of America, a Phoenix-based real estate investment trust that owns more than 960,000 square feet of health-care-related real estate in the Indianapolis market.

After leaving his Coney Island developments to the city, developer Joe Sitt has his eye on a new market: college student housing, the New York Post reported. “Student housing is one of the last real estate asset classes that still remains attractive to lenders,” Swan told the Post.

A proposed $31 million modernization and emergency room expansion project at West Park Hospital has captured voter interest because of its size, scope and cost. But many residents are unaware that it is the second phase in an ambitious, three-part master plan to expand and upgrade a wide range of hospital facilities.