Upon completion of Five Star 's acquisition of LTA, Senior Housing Properties, a locally based REIT, will purchase 35 independent- and assisted-living communities from Five Star that were previously owned by LTA. Concurrent with the purchase, Senior Housing Properties will also enter a long-term triple-net lease arrangement with Five Star for the same properties.

The 35 communities that SHP will acquire have 1,880 independent- and assisted-living units. In Tennessee the firm acquired eight communities totaling 477 units; in Virginia, there are four communities totaling 396 units; in South Carolina there are eight communities totaling 346 units; in Georgia there are seven communities totaling 287 units; in Kentucky there are four communities totaling 193 units; and, in Alabama there are four communities totaling 181 units.

The majority of these communities, which are 87% occupied, were built by LTA between 1997 and 2002, and the average age of all 35 communities is approximately five years. The rent payable by Five Star to Senior Housing Properties for these communities will be $14.9 million annually year, plus increases starting in 2006 based upon a percentage of the revenue increases at these communities.