Six years after initially leasing a skilled nursing facility in Scottsburg, Indiana, and three years after purchasing it, Strawberry Fields REIT LLC is refinancing the facility with a $4.4 million 35-year HUD loan, featuring a 3.65% fixed interest rate. The REIT utilized a new FHA lending partner to execute the transaction, which took out an existing conventional bank acquisition loan.
The 99-bed facility certainly has room to improve, with occupancy of 69% based on licensed beds and around 80% based on operational beds. But it has increased in value since Strawberry Fields’ 2014 purchase, when the facility sold for $3.415 million, or $34,495 per bed. Recently, it has been appraised for $5.6 million, or about $56,000 per bed. Helping push up that valuation, Strawberry Fields and its operating partner, The Waters, have invested in capital improvements over the years, and more are planned.
Currently operating as a holding company, Strawberry Fields continues to grow, currently owning 57 skilled nursing facilities in eight states (mostly in the Midwest and the South). We expect to hear more about its growth throughout 2017.
