In an otherwise quiet month, August was bookended by two large seniors housing deals. Starting the month, of course, was Welltower’s $1.15 billion acquisition of 19 Vintage Senior Living properties. And ending it was Investors Real Estate Trust’s (IRET) exit from the industry with the sale of 26 seniors housing properties located throughout the Upper Midwest. Totaling 1,751 rentable units, these properties were located in Wyoming, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. Affiliates of the current tenant of 25 of the 26 properties, Edgewood Senior Living, are the buyers. Also included in the $236 million, or $134,780 per unit, price was one multifamily property in Minnesota. Going forward, IRET will focus solely on the multifamily market, in which the company owns 99 properties and 12,950 units. BMO Capital Markets Corp. acted as financial advisor to IRET in the deal, which was comprised of six separate transactions all set to close in 2017.