Healthcare Trust, Plaza Companies Join Forces on Phoenix MOB Portfolio

March 29, 2010
By Allison Landa, News Editor

Courtesy Flickr Creative Commons user http2007

Healthcare Trust of America and Plaza Companies are working together on more than 641,000 square feet of medical office buildings in the Phoenix metro area – a continuation of Healthcare Trust’s aggressive expansion efforts in Arizona.

Healthcare Trust bought the 17-property portfolio, which is located in the city’s northwest area, in December 2009, and has reached an agreement with Plaza to provide property management and leasing services. Plaza will also work with Healthcare Trust to build a capital improvement program for the companies.

With this purchase, Healthcare Trust now owns more than a million square feet of gross leasable space in Arizona. The company has also recently purchased properties in Texas, Indiana, and South Carolina. Two recent Texas deals boosted Healthcare Trust’s Texas portfolio to more than a million square feet. In 2009, the REIT completed medical office building transactions totaling $494 million.

“The Sun Cities acquisitions allows HTA to align ourselves with large, high-quality medical office portfolios associated with high-quality healthcare systems in strategically located markets,” said Healthcare Trust chief executive officer and president Scott Peters said while announcing the news. “Our alliance with the Plaza Companies affords HTA the opportunity to bring high-quality, service-focused management and leasing services to our tenants.”

Based in Scottsdale, Az., Healthcare Trust is a self-managed REIT. Since its formation in 2006, the company has made 57 property purchases valued at approximately $1.55 billion based on purchase price. Its portfolio totals 7.9 million square feet and includes 169 medical office buildings, six hospitals, nine skilled nursing and assisted living facilities and four other office buildings located in 21 states.

Peoria, Az.-based Plaza Companies was founded in 1982 and today has a portfolio of 5 million square feet valued at more than $1 billion.