A purpose-built, 62-unit senior living community located in suburban Philadelphia was shuttered over a year ago, but new ownership will soon reopen it as a market-rate apartment building. Joe Shallow and Jim Baranello of The Prestige Group represented the seller in the sale, which came to $3 million, or $48,400 per unit.
Originally built in 1989 as Sunrise Assisted Living, the Jenkintown community featured both personal care (assisted living) and memory care services. Chelsea Senior Living bought it around 2010 as part of an expansion outside of its New York and New Jersey footprint. However, this was Chelsea’s first and ultimately only facility in Pennsylvania, and after a few years any plans for further expansion were shelved. Chelsea invested about $500,000 in renovations and made other improvements to the community, but occupancy consistently hovered around 80% and a decision was made to close it in 2019, citing a saturated market.
So, Chelsea put the vacant community on the market, and with Messrs. Shallow and Baranello leading the sales process, a local real estate investor stepped in to purchase it.
