John Thomas, CEO of Physicians Realty Trust (NYSE: DOC), joined REIT.com for a CEO Spotlight video interview at REITWorld 2015: NAREIT’s Annual Convention for All Things REIT at the Wynn Las Vegas.
Physicians Realty owns and manages health care properties that are leased to physicians, hospitals and health care delivery systems, and other health care providers.
The REIT closed on $297 million of investments in medical office facilities during the third quarter and has completed more than $688 million of investments in medical real estate during 2015. Thomas said the hectic pace of acquisition activity could continue.
“It depends for the most part on the capital markets, but the access, the opportunities are out there,” he said.
Thomas noted that the recent appointment of Deeni Taylor to the newly created position of –executive vice president for investments will create additional relationships and bring new opportunities for the company.
Looking at the company’s strongest pockets of growth, Thomas highlighted Phoenix; Columbus, Ohio; and Minneapolis.
Thomas also discussed the importance of receiving an investment-grade credit rating from ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service.
“Now we’ve got the opportunity to term out some debt on an unsecured basis at a very low cost of capital. So, certainly, it improves our cost of capital, but more importantly, it transitions us into a long-term organization and continues to fuel that growth for the future,” he said.