Equity Commonwealth to pay $3.4B for Monmouth; Host Hotels makes $610M purchase

S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of real estate news stories and more published throughout the week.

Occupancy in U.S. skilled nursing facilities rose to 71.2% in February, up from 70.7% the previous month but still 13.7 percentage points below the pre-pandemic level.

The February gain represented a rebound to skilled nursing's December 2020 occupancy level, after a dip in January as the COVID-19 pandemic worsened, according to data from the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care.

Beth Burnham Mace, the organization's chief economist, characterized the figure as a sign that skilled nursing occupancies are beginning to stabilize. As of mid-April, COVID-19 case counts in skilled nursing facilities were down 98% from December 2020, NIC said.

Mace said skilled nursing performance data for the coming months will be "extremely important" to determine whether the industry is on its way to recovery.

READ MORE: Sign up for our weekly coronavirus newsletter here, and read our latest coverage on the crisis here.

Mega M&A deal

* Office real estate investment trust Equity Commonwealth struck a deal to acquire industrial real estate landlord Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corp. in a $3.4 billion all-stock transaction, including debt. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2021.

Property play

* Lodging REIT Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. purchased fee simple interest in the 444-room Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida for about $610 million.

* Safe Harbor Marinas LLC, a unit of manufactured-home REIT Sun Communities Inc., acquired Lauderdale Marine Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., in a roughly $340 million deal. The seller of the approximately 60-acre marina at 2001 SW 20th St. was an affiliate of private equity giant Carlyle Group Inc., the South Florida Business Journal reported.

* Ryman Hospitality Properties Inc. will purchase the 35% interest it does not already own in Gaylord-Rockies Resort & Convention Center in Aurora, Colo., for about $210 million. The deal includes about 130 acres of undeveloped land adjacent to the resort.

Of partnerships

* Communications REIT American Tower Corp. agreed to sell a 30% stake in ATC Europe to Canadian investor Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec as part of a new long-term strategic partnership. The transaction, valued at over €1.6 billion, implies an enterprise value of more than €8.8 billion for ATC Europe and is expected to close in the third quarter.

* JBG Smith Properties formed a 50/50 partnership with J.P. Morgan Global Alternatives to own, develop and manage about 2.0 million square feet of new mixed-use development in Potomac Yard in Alexandria, Va.

Internal move

* Colony Credit Real Estate completed its internalization transaction with its external manager and Colony Capital Inc. unit CLNC Manager LLC. The transaction provided proceeds of $102.3 million to Colony Capital, which transferred 44 employees to Colony Credit and completed a five-month transition services agreement for transition of all critical functions.

Earnings call coverage

As the first-quarter earnings season progressed, S&P Global Market Intelligence reporters tuned in to conference calls hosted by some of the larger players in the real estate sector.

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