Mix of financing funds project

An assisted living/memory care community to be built in North Seattle’s Bitter Lake neighborhood has plenty of supporters, financial or otherwise, wanting to help it fill up and succeed. Zenith Capital, a Seattle-based leader in alternative financing for the seniors housing industry, is planning to build a 100-unit community, with 79 units of assisted living and 21 units of memory care. To operate, Zenith brought on Village Concepts, which manages 15 senior communities in Washington with over 1,400 residents. We will have to wait and see how fill-up goes, but it certainly helps this project that the “newest” seniors housing community in the area was built in 2006, with the majority dating back to the 1990s and some from the 1950s and 1970s. It also helps that Zenith and Village Concepts have partnered on three other projects in the past. To finance the $25 million, or $250,000 per unit, project Zenith will rely on bank debt, EB5 investors’ equity and owner’s equity. A typical capital stake for Zenith’s projects is 50% bank debt, 40% EB5 equity and 10% owner’s equity, and the developer is still in preliminary talks with banks to provide the debt. Village Concepts will also contribute a certain amount of equity, and will be co-owners with Zenith, EB5 investors and other co-investors.