DENTON, TX-Healthcare Trust of America Inc. has acquired two medical office buildings in North Texas for $13.5 million in an off-market transaction. The seller was the original developer of both buildings, which total nearly 54,000 square feet.

“Texas is a business-friendly state [that] we continue to favor for portfolio growth,” says Mark Engstrom, executive vice president of acquisitions for HTA. “These are well located, stabilized properties with strong tenant credit. They are also relatively new assets with significant term remaining on the leases.”

The first building, located in Denton, is a 35,720-square-foot facility located on the campus of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital – Denton. Built in 2000, the three-story single tenant building is 100% leased through 2017 to Texas Health Resources, which operates the 255-bed acute-care, full-service hospital.

Fort Worth-based Texas Health Resources, which carries a Moody's rating of Aa3, master leased the building, and the lease allows the company/hospital to sublease space to individual physicians and practices, Engstrom notes.

The Denton medical office building is located close to another HTA property, the Select Rehabilitation Hospital of Denton, which is also located on the campus of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital – Denton. The REIT acquired the rehab hospital in December 2009.  

The second building, located at 2790 Lake Vista Dr. in Lewisville, TX, consists of roughly 18,000 square feet. Built in 2000, it is 100% leased to Texas Oncology, the largest oncology practice management company in the United States with more than 1,300 physicians providing care for 850,000 patients in 500 locations.  

Engstrom tells GlobeSt. that this acquisition is the REIT’s first deal with Texas Oncology as a tenant. “However, cancer/oncology is one of the most significant illnesses impacting the health of our population today and treatment delivery will continue to grow into the future,” he says.  

These two properties increase HTA’s Texas portfolio to nearly 1.3 million square feet. So far this year, the non-traded REIT has acquired approximately $210.9 million in medical office and healthcare-related assets. Its national portfolio totals about 8.3 million square feet and includes 178 medical office buildings, six hospitals, nine skilled nursing and assisted living facilities and four other office buildings located in 21 states.