Earlier this week New York City-based NorthStar filed a registration statement for a proposed IPO of the new entity, NorthStar Healthcare Investors Inc., which expects to qualify as a REIT. NorthStar Healthcare expects to continue and expand Wakefield's business, with a focus on acquiring and owning senior housing facilities, primarily private pay assisted living facilities, and other healthcare properties, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The proposed maximum offering price is $200 million, but the filing does not specify the per-share price. It expects the new entity's stock to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

When the stock offering and related formation transactions are completed, according to the SEC filing, NorthStar Healthcare will own a portfolio of 66 senior housing facilities (encompassing 3,878 units/beds in 14 states) and one life sciences campus. When the transactions are complete, 32 of the senior housing facilities will be triple-net leased to third-party operators; the other 34 will be leased to its taxable REIT subsidiary and operated by third-party operators on behalf of the TRS lessee under management agreements. "By leasing certain senior housing facilities to our TRS lessee, we are able to benefit from the growth in facility-specific cash flows generated by the operator engaged by our TRS lessee and we have more control over this operator's performance," the filing states.

The three-building, 286,700-square-foot life sciences campus, located in Hillsboro, OR, is fully leased to Oregon Health Sciences University, a BBB-rated tenant.