NEW YORK CITY — Welltower Inc. (NYSE: HCN) and Hines have purchased a development site at 139 E. 56th St. in Midtown Manhattan for an undisclosed price. The new owners plan to build a 15-story assisted living and memory care community on the site. Design and development plans are in progress and will be released at a later date. One known detail is that the ground floor will contain retail. Eastern Consolidated represented the sellers, Stephen Meringoff and Dennis Riese, the owners of the two existing properties that comprise the site, in the transaction. The existing buildings will be demolished to make way for the new community. This is the first venture into senior living for Hines, an international real estate development, investment and management company. Although the company is based in Houston, this deal was made through the New York office. Toledo, Ohio-based Welltower, meanwhile, is the largest healthcare REIT in the United States by market cap. Formerly known as Health Care REIT, the company was the third-largest owner of seniors housing properties in the country as of June 1, according to the American Seniors Housing Association.
GARFIELD HEIGHTS, OHIO — Lancaster Pollard has arranged $28.3 million in financing for Sisters of the Holy Spirit, a faith-based nonprofit operator based in the Cleveland suburb of Garfield Heights. The financing is arranged as two loans. The first was a $12.6 million nonrecourse HUD loan that replaces existing bonds on Jennings Center for Older Adults, a 438-unit independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing and adult daycare community in Garfield Heights. The second transaction was $15.7 million in tax-exempt bond financing for the construction of a 74-unit assisted living community, to be named Jennings at Brecksville, in nearby Brecksville. The transactions were also structured around the creation of a new real estate company, which will allow Sisters of the Holy Spirit to distribute excess funds from the Garfield Heights community to the Brecksville community without penalty. Kass Matt led the transaction for Lancaster Pollard.
MURFREESBORO, TENN. — National Health Investors Inc. (NYSE: NHI), a publicly traded seniors housing and healthcare REIT based in Murfreesboro, has purchased 12 skilled nursing facilities in Texas from operator Legend Healthcare for a total of $174.5 million. The sales were structured as two separate transactions. In the first, NHI bought eight of Legend’s existing Texas facilities totaling 931 beds for $118.5 million. In the second transaction, NHI purchased four more facilities from Legend that are in various stages of development for $56 million. The first of those facilities is expected to open in 2017. Legend is seeking to step away as operator of all the facilities, so NHI will lease all 12 newly purchased facilities, as well as seven others previously operated by Legend, to affiliates of The Ensign Group (NASDAQ: ENSG). The 15-year lease for the 15 currently operating facilities will have an initial annual amount of $17.8 million plus an annual, inflation-based escalator. The lease has two five-year renewal options. Upon entering the new lease on May 1, Ensign will also purchase two skilled nursing facilities in Texas from NHI. Ensign will pay $24.6 million for the 245-bed portfolio.
TEXAS — KeyBank Real Estate Capital provided $202.1 million in Freddie Mac financing to a joint venture between Kayne Anderson Real Estate Advisors and Discovery Senior Living for their Conservatory Senior Living portfolio, a five-property independent living portfolio located in Texas. Totaling 1,053 units, the Class A seniors housing communities were all built between 2005-2007 and house between 188-237 units each. Charlie Shoop and Carolyn Nazdin of Key’s Healthcare Mortgage Group worked in conjunction with Paul DiVito of Key’s Healthcare Real Estate Group to arrange the non-recourse, 10-year, adjustable rate financing, which was used to refinance an existing loan.
ENGLEWOOD, FLA. — Love Funding, a Washington, D.C.-based lender, has provided a $17.8 million construction loan to build Heritage Oaks Assisted Living and Memory Care, a 118-unit seniors housing community in Englewood, located between Tampa and Fort Myers. Tammy Tate of Love Funding secured the 40-year, non-recourse financing through the HUD 232 program. Heritage Oaks will include 86 assisted living units and 32 memory care units in a two-story building. The initial 10-acre site will be part of a larger 60-acre campus. Phase II of development will add independent living to the community. Georgia-based CDH Partners is design architect for the project, which Florida-based Core Construction Services will build. When complete, Beacon Communities will operate the community. No timeline for construction was disclosed.
MADISON, WIS. — Brookdale Senior Living has completed the addition of 67 units and a new memory care program at Brookdale Madison West, an assisted living community in Madison. The $18 million expansion was completed in several phases. In the first phase, a 67-unit assisted living building was added to the existing 48-unit community, as well as a variety of dining options and amenities. In the second phase, the community’s initial assisted living building was updated and renovated to memory care units. The memory care section is split into two sections of 20 units each — one for those with acute memory care needs, and another to try to slow the progression of early-stage dementia.
ORLAND PARK, ILL. — Owner and operator Heritage Enterprises and Michuda Construction have opened Evergreen Senior Living at Parkview Campus, an assisted living and memory care community in Orland Park, approximately 25 miles southwest of Chicago. The community features 76 assisted living apartments and 40 memory care apartments. Heritage, based in Central Illinois, developed and will operate the community. Chicago-based Michuda oversaw the design and construction. Worn Jerabek Wiltz Architects PC of Chicago provided architectural services.
KANSAS CITY, MO. — Cain Brothers has arranged $51.8 million in bond financing for Kingswood Senior Living Community, a continuing care retirement community in Kansas City. The bonds will fund the repositioning of the community, which Life Care Services operates. The campus was built in 1982. LCS Development has formulated a turnaround plan that includes converting the obsolete independent living units to new assisted living and memory care units. Renovations will also be performed throughout the remaining units, common areas and amenities. In addition to the 35-year, non-rated, fixed-rate bonds, Cain Brothers arranged $2 million of mezzanine financing to execute the development plan.
ST. JOSEPH, MICH. — NorthPoint Capital Funding has arranged the $7 million refinancing of The Whitcomb Senior Living Community, a 134-unit community in St. Joseph, located in the southwest corner of the state along the banks of Lake Michigan. Originally constructed as a hotel in 1928, the property was converted to seniors housing in 1973. NorthPoint Capital Funding is a subsidiary of NorthPoint Capital Group, a lender based in Chicago.
DALLAS — Capital Senior Ventures, a subsidiary of Baltimore-based Capital Funding Group, has acquired 33 skilled nursing facilities totaling 4,200 beds in south-central Texas, plus some shovel-ready development sites, for an undisclosed sum. Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap specializing in serving institutional and major private real estate investors, advised the seller, Regency Post-Acute Healthcare System, in the deal. According to IPA, the transaction is the largest seniors housing sale in Texas history. Joshua Jandris, Mark Myers, Peyton Stanforth and Charles Hilding led the Dallas-based IPA team.