Ventas Enhances New York Portfolio With Battery Park Buyout

Ventas, Inc. VTR announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire an independent seniors housing community — Battery Park — for nearly $194 million Brookdale Senior Living (BKD). The acquisition positions the company to better serve in the prime Manhattan market as a market leader in senior housing.

The best-in-class community is attractively located in the Battery Park City neighborhood of downtown Manhattan. With well-established retail, residential and commercial spaces, along with convenient access to notable neighborhoods of Tribeca, SoHo and the Financial District, downtown Manhattan offers growth opportunities for the senior residential asset.

In fact, with scope for future redevelopment, the campus carries additional upside potential. Also, this buyout is a strategic fit for Ventas as it is priced below the replacement cost. Furthermore, it indicates a going-in yield on net operating income (NOI) of nearly 5%.

Ventas has chosen to Brookdale to manage the property under a separate management agreement. Notably, Brookdale has successfully managed the property for nearly 20 years. The transaction, subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Per management, the distinctive community complements Ventas’ high-quality seniors housing portfolio. Further, it is anticipated that the campus will favorably benefit from the strong demographics of New York City.

Previously, Ventas entered into mutually beneficial agreements with Brookdale to restructure Ventas’ wholly owned Brookdale communities — 128 senior living communities under triple-net leases — into one master lease and security agreement.

Further, expansion of the company’s senior housing operating portfolio bodes well as this segment generates 32% of the company’s NOI. Additionally, the fragmented market for seniors’ housing real estate offers consolidation opportunities. Hence, the acquisition can be deemed strategic. 

Also, shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have outperformed its industry over the past three months. While its shares have rallied 12.8%, the industry gained 8.2% during the same time frame. 

Nevertheless, Ventas operates in a cut-throat market, and competes with national and local healthcare operators on a number of factors, including quality, price and range of services provided, reputation, location and demographics of the population in the surrounding area, as well as the financial condition of its tenants and operators. This significantly limits its power to drive revenues, as well as crack deals at attractive rates.

Key Picks

Better-ranked stocks from the REIT space include NorthStar Realty Europe Corp. NRE, W.P. Carey, Inc. WPC and PS Business Parks, Inc. PSB. NorthStar Realty sports a Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), while W.P. Carey and PS Business Parks carry a Zacks rank of 2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

NorthStar Realty’s Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2018 FFO per share has been revised 5.5% upward over the past 30 days. Its shares have returned 34.1% in the past six months.

W.P. Carey’s FFO per share estimates for 2018 remined unchanged at $5.12 in 60 days’ time. Its shares have appreciated 10.9% in the past six months.

PS Business Parks’ FFO per share estimates for the current year moved up marginally in the past 30 days to $6.39. Its shares have rallied 18.3% in six months’ time.

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