Grubb & Ellis Out, American Healthcare Investors In as REIT Sponsor

American Healthcare Investors, LLC has been launched as a joint venture with Griffin Capital Corporation and affiliates to advise and manage Grubb & Ellis Healthcare Trust, a publicly registered non-traded real estate investment trust (REIT), its founders announced on Nov. 22.

Jeff Hanson and Danny Prosky are the cofounders of American Healthcare Investors, which will co-sponsor the healthcare REIT (formerly sponsored by Grubb & Ellis) along with Griffin Capital Corporation. The independent members of the REIT’s board of directors announced on Nov. 8 that it had elected to replace Grubb & Ellis with the co-sponsors, with Griffin Capital Securities as replacement dealer-manager.

“We formed American Healthcare Investors with one goal in mind,” said Hanson in a statement. “And that is to continue to execute, in partnership with Griffin Capital, our established vision for the REIT, which has firmly established itself as one of the finest performing non-traded REITs in the industry.”

Hanson will continue to serve as chairman of the board and CEO of the REIT, in addition to being one of its largest individual stockholders; Prosky will continue on as president, COO, and director. They have served in the same roles since the REIT began in 2009.

The two have completed more than $13 billion in aggregate acquisition and disposition transactions during their careers in commercial real estate investment, $5 billion of which has been healthcare-related real estate transactions.

“We are extremely proud of the exceptional economic performance of the REIT, which began acquiring assets in 2010,” said Prosky in the statement. “We will continue the disciplined management approach that has delivered these results, while further enhancing the investor-friendly structural elements that differentiate us in the industry, most notably our significant alignment of interests among REIT shareholders, the management team, and the sponsor.”

Written by Alyssa Gerace