NEWTON, MA-Senior Housing Properties Trust is purchasing a nine property portfolio of senior living rental communities for $478 million. The portfolio is branded as Vi as Classic Residence. Vi did not confirm that the properties being purchased by Senior Housing were being sold by Chicago based Pritzker Realty Group, but the Vi brand is owned by a Pritzker ownership group.

The nine communities are located in Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Texas and four in Florida. Those properties are: 22601 Camino Del Mar, Boca Raton, FL; 2480 N Park Rd., Hollywood, FL; 8500 W. Sunrise Blvd., Plantation, FL; 1371 S Ocean Blvd., Pompano Beach, FL; 8100 Connecticut Ave., Chevy Chase, MD; 3201 Plumas St., Reno, NV; 655 Pomander Walk, Teaneck, NJ; 537 Riverdale Ave., Yonkers; and 5455 La Sierra Dr., Dallas.

The portfolio is 87% occupied and eight of the communities will be leased to a subsidiary of Senior Housing and all nine will be managed by Five Star Quality Care, Inc. Locally headquartered Senior Housing has not closed on the properties yet, but anticipates it will close on most by Q4 of 2011, although some closings may be postponed until early 2012 based upon regulatory and third party approvals, it notes in a release, pointing to the licensing process in New York as a particular obstacle. David Hegarty, president of Senior Housing Property Trust tells GlobeSt.com that because of the senior living and Alzheimer portions of the property states "have to bless the sales" and that "New York can take up to a year or more," so the closing of all the properties will be contingent on those particular states' licensing approvals. Hegarty anticipates closing most of them in about 60 days, but notes "you always have to account for the contingency."