SURPRISE, ARIZ. — Christian Care Cos. has opened Fellowship Square Surprise, a 313-unit independent living, assisted living and memory care community in the Phoenix suburb of Surprise. The nonprofit community is located on 15 acres. Development costs were estimated at $84 million. The finished campus features a koi pond, fire pits, gazebos, sitting areas, fenced dog park, multiple dining options, 22,000-square-foot clubhouse with multiple meeting rooms, fitness/therapy rooms, library, billiards room, gift shop, swimming pool, woodworking shop, putting green, bocce ball court and pickle ball courts. Christian Care has created a fund to partially subsidize up to 20 percent of its residents earning no more than 80 percent of area median income. This is Christian Care’s sixth Fellowship Square community, all located in Arizona. The full portfolio totals 2,382 units.
Seniors Housing
CHICAGO — Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap, has brokered the sale of the Clarity Pointe Portfolio, a three-property, 174-unit seniors housing portfolio located in Knoxville, Tenn., and Fayetteville and Little Rock, Ark. Joshua Jandris, Matthew Andriano and Mark Myers of IPA arranged the transaction on behalf of the seller, a joint venture between Chicago-based Harrison Street Real Estate Capital and Life Care Services. IPA correspondent Jordyn Berger and independent mortgage broker Jim Nahal arranged a 75 percent bridge-to-HUD loan through Dwight Capital on behalf of the buyer, an owner/operator based in the Southwestern United States. The sale of the Clarity Pointe portfolio marks IPA’s fifth standalone memory care facility closing in the last 10 months.
SEATTLE — Ziegler, a specialty investment bank, has arranged $44.8 million in bond financing for The Hearthstone Corp. The bonds will fund an expansion at the company’s continuing care retirement community, The Hearthstone at Green Lake in Seattle. The Hearthstone comprises The Lakeside, a 10-story, 186,400-square-foot building constructed in 1966; and Cove West, a four-story, 48,243-square-foot building constructed in 2015 adjacent to The Lakeside. The combined buildings feature 147 independent living apartments, 37 assisted living apartments, 12 memory care apartments and 40 skilled nursing beds. The expansion project, known as Cove East, will be located adjacent to Cove West. The new building will offer 22 independent living units and underground parking, with a bistro on the ground floor. In addition to funding the expansion, the bonds also refinanced a set of existing bonds. The bonds are a combination of $36.1 million in tax-exempt bonds with a 35-year amortization and $8.7 million in tax-exempt bonds to be repaid with Cove East entrance fees.
Lancaster Pollard Arranges $400M Refinancing for Plum Healthcare Skilled Nursing Portfolio in California
by Amy Works
SAN MARCOS, CALIF. — Lancaster Pollard has arranged $400 million in financing for Plum Healthcare Group, a San Marcos-based skilled nursing operator. The bridge-to-HUD loan refinances Plum’s previous corporate term loan credit facility on a portfolio of 27 skilled nursing facilities throughout California. “Redesigning our capital structure for the emerging market is a key tenet of our strategic plan, which is focused on further enhancing our industry-leading clinical and patient outcomes, and aligning our business to capitalize on developing long-term growth opportunities in the healthcare space,” says Naveed Hakim, chief financial officer of Plum Healthcare Group. The Lancaster Pollard team of Grant Goodman, Jason Dopoulos, Joe Munhall and Elliot Kaple served as the syndication agent on the transaction. Credit Suisse served as the lender. “Completing this refinancing with Lancaster Pollard and Credit Suisse accomplishes a key step towards creating a unique, sustainable capital structure that will give us the flexibility and enhanced capital output to execute on our vision,” adds Hakim.
Senior Housing Occupancy Hits Eight-Year Low as New Supply Continues to Outpace Demand
by David Cohen
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Average occupancy for seniors housing properties throughout the United States has fallen to 87.9 percent in the second quarter of 2018, according to the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC). The rate is the lowest since first-quarter 2010, when it hit 86.9 percent. Assisted living occupancy, already at record lows, also fell further to 85.2 percent. The industry-wide occupancy slide represents a 40 basis-point drop over the previous quarter, an 80 basis-point drop over the year prior, and a 230 basis-point drop from its recent high of 90.2 percent in fourth-quarter 2014. NIC, an Annapolis-based, nonprofit data and analytics firm serving the seniors housing industry, tracks occupancy data using the top 31 primary metropolitan U.S. markets. Transaction data is representative of all U.S. seniors housing property transactions of $2.5 million and above. The silver lining of the low occupancy numbers, according to NIC’s data, is that absorption and rent growth are still positive — 2.4 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively. However, inventory growth was 3.3 percent in the quarter, meaning supply continues to outpace the demand. “The occupancy rate for assisted living was the lowest since NIC began to report the data in late …
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Rochester City Council has approved the renovation plans for Cobbs Hill Village, an affordable seniors housing community in Rochester. The approval was the last step before Rochester Management can begin work on the project. The modernization project will replace several existing structures at the property, which has served as affordable seniors housing since 1957. The new apartments will feature full-size appliances and energy-efficient HVAC systems. Amenities at the community will feature laundry rooms, a fitness center, computer lab and indoor community space accessible to those with mobility issues. Construction, expected to begin later this year, will take place in three phases, allowing current residents to move directly from existing units into newly constructed homes. All 104 units are reserved for persons over the age of 55 with maximum incomes ranging from 30 percent of area median income ($15,550) to 80 percent of area median income ($41,450).
SEATTLE — Áegis Living has opened the doors on Áegis at Ravenna, an assisted living and memory care community in Seattle’s Maple Leaf neighborhood. The property will feature 82 total units. The Ravenna name is a reference to both a neighboring Seattle neighborhood and a 19th-century opera house in Ravenna, Italy, the inspiration for the community’s design. The community features views of local landscapes, including Maple Leaf Reservoir Park, Waldo Woods and Lake Washington. Based in nearby Bellevue, Áegis Living operates 30 seniors housing communities in Washington, California and Nevada.
ST. LOUIS — The renamed McKnight Place Assisted Living & Memory Care in St. Louis has undergone a $32 million renovation. The project’s first phase included a three-story, 102,000-square-foot expansion featuring 90 apartment units. The second phase included a 74,000-square-foot renovated space with 18 additional assisted living suites and 27 separate memory care suites. Amenities include a main-floor dining room, café bistro, fitness center, chapel, billiard room, beauty salon, art room and greenhouse. The property is located on the 15-acre care campus at The Gatesworth, which now totals more than 1 million square feet of space for seniors. GateCo Development was the general contractor for the project. Greystone provided financing.
DECATUR, GA. — Columbia Residential is set to open Columbia Senior Residences at East Decatur, a mixed-income seniors housing community located adjacent to the Avondale MARTA station in Decatur, roughly eight miles east of downtown Atlanta. Columbia Residential partnered with the DeKalb County Community Development Department, the Housing Authority of DeKalb County and the Development Authority of DeKalb to transform the former parking lot adjacent to the MARTA station into a seniors housing community. The five-story building features 92 units dedicated to seniors 62 and older. Amenities include a dining and dancing room, business center, movie theater, fitness center, onsite laundry facilities and a courtyard with a gazebo. The site’s main pedestrian walk provides access to the Avondale MARTA bus and transit station. East Decatur is part of MARTA’s latest transit-oriented development at Avondale Station. In addition to the 92 seniors housing units, the Development Authority of Decatur, Columbia Ventures and Cortland Partners will deliver 377 market-rate apartments, 34 condos and more than 40,000 square feet of retail space. Upon completion, each portion of the project will be connected by a central plaza. DeKalb County and the Housing Authority of DeKalb County provided a first mortgage loan for East Decatur. Enterprise …
Columbia Pacific Advisors to Acquire Seniors Housing Owner-Operator Hawthorn Retirement Group
by Amy Works
SEATTLE — Columbia Pacific Advisors, a Seattle-based investment firm, has agreed to acquire Vancouver, Wash.-based seniors housing owner-operator Hawthorn Retirement Group for an undisclosed price. Hawthorn owns, develops and operates communities located across 20 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Hawthorn currently operates 55 communities, with another 24 communities under construction or in pre-development. In addition to the real estate portfolio, the acquisition will include Hawthorn’s management and construction businesses. The principal owners of Hawthorn — Bart Colson, Brad Colson, Norm Brenden and Pat Kennedy — have all known and worked with Columbia Pacific co-founder Dan Baty for many years. Bill Colson and Dan Baty were the primary owners of Holiday Retirement prior to its sale to Fortress Investment Group in 2007. Bart Colson and Brad Colson are Bill’s sons, and Bart was Holiday’s COO for 10 years prior to the sale to Fortress. Norm Brenden and Pat Kennedy were also high-ranking executives at Holiday. “We are buying what we believe to be one of the best senior living companies ahead of a huge and quickly approaching demographic trend of an aging U.S. population,” said Alex Washburn, managing partner and co-founder of Columbia Pacific Advisors. “The Hawthorn platform consists of …