Newton, MA-based real estate investment trust Senior Housing Properties Trust changed its name to Diversified Healthcare Trust, effective yesterday, while also announcing that it had completed $207.8 million in property sales during the fourth quarter of 2019 as part of its previously announced plan to sell up to $900 million of assets as part of a restructuring.
Monday, the REIT also said it expected to complete the restructuring of its business arrangements with its largest tenant, Newton, MA-based Five Star Senior Living, as of Jan. 1. That effort was to convert the REIT’s existing triple-net leases with Five Star into management agreements.
And the company announced that it had added an active adult rental community to its portfolio in the fourth quarter.
The name Diversified Healthcare Trust, President and Chief Operating Officer Jennifer Francis said in a statement, “more accurately depicts both our portfolio of diverse, high-quality healthcare real estate and our strategy moving forward.”
The REIT’s $8.6 billion investment portfolio has properties in 41 states and Washington, D.C. It includes more than 270 active adult, independent living, assisted living and memory care communities but also includes medical office and life science properties, as well as wellness centers.
“Over the past 10 years, we have made considerable progress in diversifying and enhancing what was once a pure-play senior living portfolio by strategically acquiring state-of-the-art life science properties and well-located medical office buildings in order to meet the broader real estate needs of the continually evolving healthcare industry,” Francis said.
Acquisitions are still occuring in the senior housing realm, however, as evidenced by the fourth-quarter purchase of a 169-unit active adult rental property in Plano, TX, for approximately $50.3 million.
“The age-restricted active adult rental apartment segment has gained popularity with baby boomers due to their interest in the active lifestyle, wellness and socialization benefits offered in these communities without the services and care that are provided in more traditional senior living communities,” Francis said. “We believe the addition of this active adult property to our portfolio will capture the evolving real estate needs of the baby boomer generation, provide additional diversification of our assets and create synergies with our existing independent and assisted living communities.”
The REIT owns two other senior living communities within 10 miles of the active adult community.
The REIT’s overall portfolio also is being changed through dispositions. Since the REIT’s third-quarter earnings-related conference call, SNH completed the sale of approximately $149.8 million of senior living and medical office properties. The divestitures include a $103.3 million portfolio of seven senior living communities, with a combined 566 units, in California, Oregon, Arizona, Florida and Rhode Island. Also, a 150-unit senior living community in Redmond, WA, was sold for $32.5 million, and a 95,000-square-foot medical office building in Atlanta was sold for $14 million.
Altogether, SNH has sold, or has under agreement to sell, approximately $678 million in properties, and the REIT also has an additional $231 million in properties with offers from prospective buyers.
In conjunction with the name change, the REIT’s common shares will begin trading on the Nasdaq under the new ticker symbol DHC today. The company also announced a new address for its website, www.dhcreit.com.
Also effective today, the REIT’s 5.625% senior notes due in 2042 no longer will trade under the ticker SNHNI but will trade under DHCNI. Similarly, its 6.25% senior notes due in 2046 no longer will trade under the ticker SNHNL but will trade under the ticker DHCNL.
