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In the trillion-dollar healthcare real estate market, success is often measured by continued revenue growth and steady asset appreciation, but Ventas is taking a more holistic approach.
Ventas Inc., an S&P 500 company, is considered one of the nation’s leading real estate health-care investment trusts (REIT). With a market value of $18 billion, the company’s property portfolio includes everything from acute care hospitals and skilled nursing facilities to senior housing communities. In 2014, the company decided to initiate a series of building improvements designed to reduce energy use and water consumption while also managing and lowering utility costs.
The retrofit projects may have been conceived with an eye on the bottom line, but saving money was not the only goal.
As Brian Fry, director of asset management at Ventas, recently explained to Senior Housing News, the company looks at this commitment to increased building efficiency “through a bit of a different lens than just dollars and cents.”
According to Fry, who heads up Ventas sustainability projects, the ultimate objective is “improving building quality and promoting healthier living and care environment.”
Saving Energy, Water and Cash
Last year, the company committed $3.8 million for building rehabilitation and structural improvements at several of its senior housing communities. So far, the company has focused on properties in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The improvements have included replacement of lighting and electrical fixtures, along with upgrades to plumbing and other improvements.
The upgraded facilities have already experienced a reduction in energy and water consumption, and the utility costs have decreased as well. But even more importantly for this publicly traded company beholden to stockholder expectations, the ROI on these sustainability projects has been exceptional.
In fact, Fry predicts company’s 2014 sustainability projects will provide payback in less than four years, making the venture “a good risk-adjusted return on our capital.”
The Big Payoff
With the profitability of these efforts clearly demonstrated, the Ventas foray into sustainable building projects will surely be replicated throughout the REIT industry.
For Fry, these sustainability initiatives are a no-brainer as they clearly promote fiscal success and environmental responsibility.
As Fry sums up, the Ventas sustainability projects are “a prime example of how we can partner with our leading operators to provide capital for projects that will improve the operational efficiency of our business, manage costs, improve margins and promote environments that benefit our customers and the patients and residents that they serve.”
