Welltower to buy 4 US seniors housing portfolios in $1.3B deal

Welltower Inc. agreed to purchase four seniors housing portfolios in the U.S. for a $1.3 billion pro rata gross investment amount.

The portfolios include eight rental and six entrance-fee communities in areas such as Bellevue, Wash.; Data Point, Calif.; and Alexandria, Va., which were acquired for $580 million, as well as nine communities that will be managed by an existing Welltower operator, which were purchased for $475 million.

The two other portfolios comprise five properties across the mid-Atlantic and Southeast worth $172 million, and three assets that will be operated by New Perspective, which were bought for $119 million.

Since June 30, the healthcare real estate investment trust has sold about $1.0 billion of equity under its at-the-market equity offering program through forward-sale agreements at an average price of $84.36 per share.

Separately, the company formed a long-term strategic partnership with Kisco Senior Living LLC, which has broken ground on a pair of seniors housing communities.

The Carnegie at Washingtonian Center in Gaithersburg, Md., will offer up to seven stories of 302 independent living, assisted living and memory care residences, while phase two of The Cardinal at North Hills in Raleigh, N.C., will feature an 18-story tower with 191 units. The latter is expected to open in the spring of 2023.

The partnership will invest more than $325 million in the two projects.