TOLEDO, Ohio — Welltower Inc. (NYSE: WELL), a Toledo-based healthcare REIT, has agreed to acquire 33 seniors housing communities totaling 2,787 units in Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. The purchase price is $548 million. The communities will be acquired as three separate portfolios from undisclosed sellers.
The communities were available for purchase because the lease-up process was heavily damaged by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. With occupancy at only 63 percent, Welltower expects the communities will greatly improve their performance in 2023 and beyond.
Welltower will install Michigan-based senior living operator StoryPoint to manage the communities under a RIDEA agreement. The acquisition is expected to be funded through the issuance of partnership units, assumed debt and cash on-hand.
Simultaneously with the acquisition announcement, Welltower unveiled a development partnership with a joint venture between Related Cos. and Atria Senior Living to develop two seniors housing communities in Silicon Valley. One will be located in Santa Clara and the other in Cupertino. Welltower suggests these developments are just the first projects of many for the partnership.
The Santa Clara development will consist of 191 units next to a fully entitled, 9.2 million-square-foot urban development that Related began building in 2015. The larger project, known as Related Santa Clara, seeks to create a mixed-use downtown space with traditional office, medical office buildings, retail amenities, multifamily housing and hotel rooms. The seniors housing development is set to break ground mid-2022, with construction slated for completion by 2024.
Located next to the Cupertino Senior Center, the Cupertino development will consist of 158 units and include an outdoor community park. Construction is set to begin at the end of 2022, with completion slated for 2024.
Welltower’s stock price opened at $86.99 per share on Monday, March 7, up from $72.23 one year ago.
— Blake Wallin