Grubb & Ellis REIT buys Lakewood Ranch medical office building for $12.5 million

BUYER: G&E HC REIT II Lakewood MOB I LLC (Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT II Holdings LP), Santa Ana, Calif.

SELLER: Lakewood Ranch MOB LLC

PROPERTY: 8340 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., Lakewood Ranch

PRICE: $12.5 million

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Blalock Walters PA, Bradenton

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Some of Bradenton's most prominent power players have sold Lakewood Ranch Medical Office Building I to national real estate investment trust Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT II for $12.5 million.

The price equated to $217 per a square foot.

The 57,563-square-foot building was 97% occupied at the time of the sale.

The 7-year-old building was developed principally by former Florida Senate President John McKay and general contractor Ron Allen, whose firm NDC Construction built it and the nearby Lakewood Ranch Medical Office Building II.

Steve Horn of Ian Black Real Estate represented the seller and Greg Endsley of Madison Street Partners represented the buyer.

“It's important because a national institutional REIT came to Lakewood Ranch and was so impressed with the area and what was taking place that they were comfortable enough to buy the building,” Horn says. “The success of the building and the hospital goes hand in hand with the success of Lakewood Ranch. You've got to have the population surrounding it to make it work.”

The purchase was a long-term investment, he says.

The medical office building features a variety of medical services, including: pediatrics, diagnostics, imaging, plastic surgery, podiatry, cardiovascular care and family practice.

The medical office building's former owners are currently selling suites in Lakewood Ranch Medical Office Building II. Horn says that they will be revising pricing soon there with the goal of selling the remaining 16,000 square feet.

The Lakewood Ranch building was one of three facilities Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT II purchased recently. In separate transactions, it also acquired the Yuma Skilled Nursing Facility in Yuma, Ariz., and the Hardy Oak Medical Building in San Antonio.

“The acquisition of these properties was attractive to Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT II due to their proximity to well-managed medical centers and their financial performance,” Danny Prosky, president and chief operating officer of the REIT, says in a press release.

Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT II, a REIT sponsored by the Grubb & Ellis Co., is seeking to raise up to $3 billion in equity to buy medical-office buildings and other healthcare-related real estate.