HRPT announces revised spin-off plan.

HRPT Properties Trust has a new plan for separating its office properties from its senior housing and health care real estate. The Newton, Massachusetts-based real estate investment trust has about $3.2 billion of investments, of which about $770 million are senior housing properties.

Last December, HRPT said it was spinning off the senior housing properties into a separate subsidiary, Senior Housing Properties Trust, using an initial public offering. Now, however, it says that due to "market conditions affecting the REIT industry generally and healthcare properties specifically," it does not believe an IPO can be achieved at an acceptable price--even though more than 55 percent of its senior housing investments are in Marriott International and Brookdale Living Communities, neither of which has much of a health care component.

HRPT is, therefore, creating two publicly owned REITs, one for office buildings and one for senior housing, without using an IPO. HRPT shareholders will receive one share of Senior Housing stock for every ten shares of HRPT owned. In addition, Senior Housing has secured a $350 million bank credit facility, $200 million of which will go to HRPT and the remainder of which will fund Senior Housing's growth and working capital.