CNL Pays Premium to Enter Medical Office Sector

ORLANDO-CNL Retirement Properties Inc., on a multi-million-dollar acquisition kick for the past two years in the seniors housing sector, has entered the medical office building arena for the first time. However, admission was expensive, industry consultants tell GlobeSt.com.

The locally based REIT paid Chevy Chase, MD-based Medical Office Properties Inc. $256 million for 22 properties totaling 1.3 million sf in seven states. The acquisitions price equates to $196.92 per sf, one of the highest average per-sf prices paid for a bulk portfolio of this category in the past 18 months, area brokers tell GlobeSt.com.

The average price paid for each of the properties is $11.6 million. The properties are in Florida, California, Colorado, Maryland, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia. The buildings are occupied by a total 345 tenants but their individual occupancy levels and ages were not disclosed in a prepared statement from Thomas J. Hutchison III, CEO and president of CNL Retirement Properties.