Washington, D.C.-based Capitol Seniors Housing headed up the coast to build a brand-new assisted living/memory care community in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, an affluent suburb of New York City. The firm utilized an existing operating partner, Chelsea Senior Living, which already operates 10 senior living communities in the Mid-Atlantic on behalf of CSH, to third-party manage the new 85-unit community. To finance the project, Aron Will of CBRE arranged a $16.75 million, non-recourse loan with a floating-rate term from a regional bank. The five-year term includes 48 months of interest only. Construction cost is estimated at $29.3 million, or about $345,000 per unit. That is $100,000 per unit higher than the average for assisted living new construction in New Jersey, according to our in-house development database dating back to 2013. Embedded in that high construction cost are a number of amenities, including a sunroom, bistro, tavern, outdoor patio, theater, art studio and gallery. Groundbreaking is expected next month, with an expected opening in September/October 2018.
Capitol Seniors Housing also plans to break ground this summer on an assisted living community in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, with a Q3:18 opening too. The 88-unit development, which will house many of the same amenities plus a fitness-rehab center and two-story water feature, should cost $28.4 million, or about $325,000 per unit to build. Two more developments in New Jersey, an 83-unit community in Norwood and an 82-unit community in Mountainside, are also expected to open in Spring 2018. Averaging 4 or 5 deals a year since 2013, Capital Seniors Housing hasn’t announced an acquisition since January 2017, so growth by development is apparently the name of the game, for now.
