Health Care REIT buys Ridgelake hospital

BUYER: Health Care REIT Inc. (principals: George Chapman, Fred Klipsch, Michael Crabtree, Erin Ibele, Thomas Derosa and William Ballard Jr.), Toledo, Ohio

SELLER: Sarasota LTAC Properties LLC

PROPERTY: 6150 Edgelake Drive, Sarasota

PRICE: $22.5 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $3.34 million, April 2004

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP, Dallas

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Toledo, Ohio-based Health Care REIT Inc. purchased the 50,285-square-foot Hospital at Ridgelake for $22.5 million.

The price equated to $447 per square foot.

Opened in 2006, the hospital occupies a 6.42-acre site.

The acute-care hospital was previously owned and operated by Birmingham, Ala.-based HealthSouth Corp.

LifeCare Holdings Inc. of Plano, Texas, has agreed to lease and operate the property through at least July 2026.

The property is one of 27 long-term acute-care hospitals in 10 states that LifeCare acquired from HealthSouth. It has taken over a total of 1,392 licensed beds.

Health Care REIT acquired five of those hospital facilities, including Hospital at Ridgelake, as part of LifeCare's acquisition.

“We were part of the financing structure to that deal,” says Bryan Hickman, investment analyst for the company. “LifeCare saw this as a way to expand their business, and HealthSouth, the seller, saw it as a way to divest themselves away from the long-term acute-care business.”

Hickman says Health Care REIT may eventually expand the Hospital at Ridgelake.

One of the largest investment trusts specializing in real estate, Health Care REIT owns a more than $14 billion portfolio of properties.