Grubb Healthcare REIT's Hanson

Earlier this year, Grubb & Ellis launched its Healthcare REIT II, a non-traded fund that intends to acquire $3.3 billion of medical offices and other health care assets. The launching comes after its first fund targeting these property types acquired 43 facilities at a cost of $1.1 billion. Jeff Hanson, the chairman and chief executive officer of the fund says that investors are looking at assets like this with lower volatility than other sectors of real estate and points to the health care industry as one of the few out there rapidly expanding. He recently spoke with GlobeSt.com about the fund and how health care properties stack up.

GlobeSt.com: Why did you decide to launch the Health Care REIT earlier this year? What was the timing?

Hanson: We had started Healthcare REIT I in mid-2006, and we did a three year IPO on that deal and raised just over $1.2 billion in equity and sent them out self-advised just a few weeks ago. So we timed the process with Health Care REIT II such that we’d work through a plus or minus six or seven month process with the regulatory agencies to get it approved while we were transitioning out from Health Care I. We concluded our advisory agreement with Healthcare I on Sept. 20, and we began raising equity the very next day on Healthcare II.