It looks like there is no summer vacation for Ziegler’s Chris Utz, who has closed a number of transactions in recent months spanning investment sales to acquisition financings for a host of seniors housing and care properties across the country. Most recently, he arranged an acquisition loan for Comprehensive Care Capital (CCC) to acquire a 114-unit assisted living/memory care community in East Norriton, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia MSA). Previously known as Brandywine Living at Senior Suites, the community has been renamed Silver Springs at East Norriton, with CCC’s affiliate Cura Health taking over operations. CCC had created Cura Health to oversee daily operations for its seniors housing communities, and future Northeast operations. Jason Newman serves as Cura’s CEO.
The community was built around 20 years ago and features a mix of 73 AL and 41 MC units. There is strong local competition, and the community catered to the middle market. Ziegler raised the debt from Metropolitan Commercial Bank (New York), which featured a two-year term and an extension option. Lenny Carraturo of MCB handled the transaction. The loan totaled $6.375 million, or $55,900 per unit of debt. Assuming a typical loan-to-cost ratio around 75%, that could put the purchase price between $70,000 per unit and $80,000 per unit.
Utz also announced his role in raising $25.0 million in bridge financing for RiverSpring Living’s River’s Edge project, New York City’s first CCRC. Guided by Jewish values, the not-for-profit RiverSpring Living serves over 18,000 older adults of all faiths through the managing of long-term care, assisted living programs, seniors housing, memory care and the skilled nursing facility, Hebrew Home at Riverdale on a 32-acre campus overlooking the Hudson River. On its riverfront property, the community is planning to develop an 11-story, 260-unit independent living building totaling approximately 441,000 square feet.
RiverSpring Living enlisted Chicago-based Integrated Development II as its development consultant, and Ziegler as its exclusive financial advisor for the project, which will be located on land leased from the Hebrew Home at Riverdale. The project will include one- and two-bedroom floor plans with views of the Hudson River, the Palisades, the George Washington Bridge and the Manhattan skyline. Debbie Blacklock of Stride Bank provided the 15-month loan, which will help cover pre-development costs associated with the project.
On the investment sales side, a couple of previously-announced transactions were attributed to Utz and Ziegler. First was UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) Senior Communities’ sale of nine senior care properties throughout the Keystone State as part of a plan to divest non-core assets. The sale of five of its skilled nursing facilities was announced in June and featured Heritage Place (Squirrel Hill), Sugar Creek Station (Franklin), Jameson Care Center (New Castle), Jameson Place (New Castle) and Avalon Place (New Castle). Only the sale of Avalon Place has yet to be finalized, but that is expected to be within the next month. The buyer was WeCare Centers, which is based in Cedarhurst, New York, and has 10 senior care facilities in New York and Pennsylvania.
The other UPMC disposition, announced at the end of 2023, involved a portfolio of two CCRCs and two stand-alone independent living communities in the Pittsburgh area. Asbury Heights (Mt. Lebanon) and the Seneca campus in Verona were the CCRCs, while Vanadium Woods Village (Bridgeville) and Lighthouse Point Village (O’Hara Township) are the IL communities. Oakdale Seniors Alliance, a Chattanooga, Tennessee-based provider that operates seniors housing communities in Indiana, Missouri and Texas, emerged as the buyer for an undisclosed price.
Lastly, Utz closed the sale of The Oaks Healthcare in Orangeburg, South Carolina, on behalf of the local investor group seller. Built in 1996 and receiving significant renovations over the years, the skilled nursing facility has 122 beds. The local investor group bought the property from a not-for-profit several years prior and helped turn around the operating performance. It previously featured a 40-unit assisted living portion that was closed at the time of the transaction but that new ownership hopes to get licensed for skilled nursing, thereby adding 40 additional beds to the facility. An undisclosed entity acquired the facility, bringing on PACS Group to operate. According to the facility’s website, the deal closed on April 1, 2024, for an undisclosed price.
