GREENSBORO, N.C. — Greensboro-based Bell Partners Inc. has sold a 22-property senior living portfolio for more than $300 million to Senior Housing Properties Trust (SNH), a public REIT. This disposition plays a key role in a Bell Partners' strategic shift over the last 18 months, as the company focuses on its position as an apartment ownership and management company. Jefferies, a global securities and investment banking group, represented the Bell Partners ownership entities in the sale process.
Steve Bell, Bell Partners CEO, cited factors in the timing of the portfolio sale, including attractive lending interest rates, a strong market for acquisition of senior living assets, and a general backlog of investment cash from prospective buyers, particularly public REITs.
“Taking all circumstances into account, Bell Partners had a duty to its investors to investigate a sale,” said Steve Bell. “The timing of the sale appears very good and in the best interest of our clients. In these challenging times, it’s nice to be able to make major cash distributions to our investors.”
The sale of these 22 assets comprises nearly all of the company's senior living properties, and the company expects to follow this deal with four more property sales by year's end. Including this sale, these 26 properties include 10 senior living locations in North Carolina, six in South Carolina, six in Florida, two in Virginia and two in Georgia. Apart from these, the company plans to retain two senior living properties in North Carolina.
The Talbot on Granby, in Norfolk, Va., a 112-unit property included in the sale portfolio.
(pictured on front page: The Palms of Lake Spivey, a 200-unit property in Lake Spivey, Ga.)
Newton, Mass.-based SNH owns approximately $3.8 billion worth of primarily senior living properties, including 27,000 resident units in 36 states. The REIT has engaged Five Star Quality Care, Inc., a publicly traded national healthcare and senior living services operator, to handle onsite management of the former Bell Senior Living (BSL) properties. Five Star's senior living division now oversees the operation of more than 200 independent living and assisted living facilities, skilled health care facilities, and continuing care retirement communities in 30 states, many of them for SNH.
Looking ahead as part of the company's strong emphasis on apartment properties, Bell Partners has recruited a new team of multifamily industry executives, many from the nation’s leading apartment REITs.
“We are focused on being one of the best apartment investment and management companies in the U.S.,” said Jon Bell, Bell Partners president, noting that his company is ranked among the top 10 apartment operators in the nation, according to the National Multi-Housing Council. Bell Partners now owns or operates 211 apartment properties, located generally in the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Southwest. These apartment communities include about 61,000 homes.
— Dan Marcec