American Healthcare REIT has agreed to buy eight senior housing communities from Kensington Senior Living for $873 million, according to a Form 8-K the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Aug. 10, 2026.
The properties, totaling 745 units, are located in California, Maryland, New York and Virginia, per the filing. American Healthcare REIT (NYSE: AHR), an Irvine, Calif.-based REIT, is acquiring the portfolio through its operating partnership, American Healthcare REIT Holdings, LP. The company said it is not affiliated with Kensington Senior Living or the selling entities.
Deal structure and financing
The transaction is split across three separate purchase agreements rather than a single closing. A “Portfolio Agreement” covering most of the communities is scheduled to close Sept. 1, 2026, with a one-time option for AHR to push that date to Oct. 15, 2026 if it posts an additional deposit, the filing states. AHR put $8.73 million β 1% of the purchase price β into escrow within three business days of signing, and that deposit became non-refundable upon execution of the agreements, subject to specified exceptions for seller default or property casualty loss.
Two of the eight communities are governed by separate agreements with their own conditions. A “Kensington Park Agreement” is contingent on a lender’s consent to let AHR assume an existing mortgage with an original principal balance of $56.46 million; if that consent isn’t obtained by Dec. 1, 2026, the deal is structured to close roughly five business days after Feb. 21, 2027 instead, without the loan assumption. A separate “Bethesda Agreement” won’t close until the property hits a certified minimum annualized net operating income for three consecutive months, followed by an additional 30-day due-diligence window, according to the filing.
AHR said it plans to fund the purchase with proceeds from equity offerings β including the physical settlement of forward sale agreements β along with borrowings under its credit facility, assumed debt and cash on hand. The company priced a $712 million forward stock offering on Aug. 11, just one day after signing the Kensington agreements, that it said would fund an unnamed “pending acquisition of a portfolio of senior housing properties,” RealtyWire reported at the time. The filing does not explicitly tie the two transactions together, but the timing and financing language in the 8-K match the earlier offering’s stated purpose.
What it means
The facts: AHR’s 8-K discloses deal terms β price, unit count, states, deposits, closing mechanics and financing sources β but includes no executive quotes, cap rate, or operator performance data on the Kensington communities. The company said the full purchase agreements will be filed as exhibits to its quarterly report for the period ending Sept. 30, 2026.
The interpretation: The purchase extends AHR’s recent push into senior housing operating assets. The REIT raised full-year 2026 guidance in early August on the strength of double-digit same-store NOI growth in that segment, and it closed a $103 million purchase of a San Jose, Calif., community in late July, as RealtyWire previously reported. Kensington Senior Living is expected to continue operating the eight communities under new management services agreements with AHR once each piece of the deal closes.
The analysis: The staggered closing structure β one near-term deadline, one contingent on lender approval, one tied to a property hitting a performance threshold β signals that not all eight communities were equally deal-ready at signing. AHR’s own filing cautions that it “can give no assurance” any of the three closings will happen within the anticipated timeframe, or at all, a standard disclaimer but a reminder that roughly a third of the portfolio’s value could still be delayed well into 2027 if the Kensington Park lender consent isn’t secured.
What to watch
The Portfolio Agreement’s Initial Closing is targeted for Sept. 1, 2026, with the possible extension to Oct. 15. Investors should watch for confirmation of lender consent on the Kensington Park mortgage assumption ahead of the Dec. 1, 2026 deadline, and whether the Bethesda property meets its NOI stabilization threshold. AHR said it expects the Kensington Park and Bethesda closings to occur by the end of 2026, with full agreement terms to be disclosed in its third-quarter 10-Q.
