New joint venture debuts
Contemporary Healthcare Capital and Community & Southern Bank announced the first joint closing under their strategic alliance and “uni-tranche” program with a $10.5 million loan for a Pacific Northwest-based seniors housing operator to acquire a 95-unit/116-bed assisted living/memory care community in Ashland, Oregon. The combined loans were valued at about 85% loan-to-cost, translating to an approximate purchase price of $12.1 million, or $127,400 per unit. The borrower also plans to use proceeds of the loan to invest $575,000 in capital improvements, provide initial working capital and pay associated closing costs. The strategic alliance will provide enhanced leveraged financing... Read More »Seniors Housing And Dynamic Pricing
There may be a move to adopt the concept of dynamic pricing in seniors housing, but it comes with its own perils. I may be a bit of a contrarian on this one, but I have to admit I am not too wild about the concept of dynamic pricing for seniors housing. I know it works well with hotels, airlines and multifamily, but all three are very different from seniors housing. I am all for more transparency with pricing, such as posting prices online, but dynamic pricing with weekly price changes based on changing local dynamics doesn’t do it for me. Marketing the seniors housing product is a relationship sale over several months, not instantaneous like a plane ticket. This is a lifestyle decision... Read More »NHI making headlines
National Health Investors (NYSE: NHI) made plenty of news this month, starting with the unexpected announcement that CEO Justin Hutchens was stepping down to become the CIO of HCP. The company also made three acquisitions this month, totaling $33.5 million. First, in a sale/leaseback transaction, NHI acquired a 42-unit independent/assisted living community in Roscommon, Michigan for $6 million, or $142,900 per unit, with a 9.2% cap rate. Occupancy was 100% at the time of the sale, and in the past three years has never been below 90%. The seller, The Brook Retirement Communities, is leasing the property back from NHI for 10 years at an initial lease rate of 7.75%, representing an 8.6%... Read More »New entrant into Georgia memory care market
James Deupree, an independent seniors housing developer, is entering the Georgia market with his Westminster™ branded memory care community in Dallas, Georgia (Atlanta MSA). The third Westminster™ property in the Southeast, the community will feature 48 private units separated into four “neighborhoods” with common and dining areas in each. The community will also be the only one to offer memory care services in the town of Dallas. Riverwood Retirement Management, a senior living management and consulting firm based in Orange City, Florida, will operate the community with a 5% management fee. CDH Partners is the architect, while Beacon Construction Company is the contractor for the project,... Read More »Big HUD month for HHC
Housing & Healthcare Finance (HHC) had a very busy August closing over $50 million of HUD financings. Three of the loans totaling $15.2 million were refinancings of existing HUD loans for three skilled nursing facilities with 428 beds in Connecticut. The experienced borrower received low fixed rates for the next 25-30 years. HHC also closed 2 HUD 232/223(f) loans totaling close to $36 million. The first, a $22.2 million loan, will refinance a 240-bed skilled nursing facility in Brooklyn, New York, while the second, a $13.3 million loan, will refinance a 120-bed facility in Carmel, New York. All of the facilities are well occupied. Read More »Pillar of financing
A skilled nursing owner/operator in Southern California turned to Pillar, a Guggenheim Partners affiliate, to arrange more than $35.6 million in HUD loans to refinance five facilities and some 403 beds. Pillar’s Joshua Hausfeld out of the company’s Bethesda office and Evan Hom of New York City, originated the five HUD loans, which refinanced existing HUD debt from 2011. Four of the loans came with fixed interest rates of 3.65% and fully amortizing 25-year terms: $5.5 million for a 75-bed facility in Spring Valley, $6.8 million for a 50-bed facility also in Spring Valley, $8.75 million for a 99-bed facility in San Diego, and $6.1 million for a 99-bed facility in Los Angeles. The fifth, an... Read More »ALF with upside sells
A 60-unit assisted living community in Columbus, Georgia that was not fulfilling its revenue potential sold to a private investment group for $4.85 million, or $80,800 per unit. Built and owned by the not-for-profit St. Francis Hospital since 1999, the community had historically struggled with occupancy, until in 2006, it leased a wing of 14 units on the second floor to VistaCare, Inc., an unaffiliated hospice company. That move helped bring occupancy up to 97%, but at the same time it was tough to turn a profit, with an average rent received from VistaCare of $2,150 per unit per month based on a base rent plus a PPD reimbursement. At the time of the sale, the community was operating at... Read More »California CCRC in the works
Life Care Services (LCS), together with local companies Villaggio Communities, John Madonna Construction and RRM Design Group, announced plans to build a 350-unit entrance fee CCRC in San Luis Obispo, California (located about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco) as part of a $500 million mixed-use project that would cater to seniors. In addition to the CCRC, which would be the first in its county, the project will include between 150,000 and 350,000 square feet of commercial retail space, 200 apartments and 60-100 single-family detached homes. Villaggio Communities, a seniors housing developer, is in the process of acquiring 111 acres from John Madonna Construction. The proposed... Read More »Market Turmoil And The Senior Care Market
With stock prices plunging, the impact on the senior care market will be mixed. Well, it’s been a rather interesting past week or so, with more volatility likely in the days ahead. But what does it all really mean, at least for the senior care market? Other than share prices tanking for the few remaining publicly traded providers, as well as the REITs which, at least until recently, were supposed to trade more like bonds, the one takeaway can be summed up in a word: caution. But we had sort of sensed this about two months ago, given the nature of the transactions in the market. But will a sense of caution curtail the vast development pipelines that we hear about? Too early to tell, and... Read More »Sold before reaching the mountaintop
An assisted living community with an improving census and reputation sold to a regional operator before fully realizing its potential. As rough starts go, this community in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania may take the cake. Built in 1984 as a skilled nursing facility, it never opened as such because the developer defaulted on the bond financing the project. A Lutheran senior housing group then bought it and operated it as an assisted living community until January 2013, when a group of doctors bought the community with just 12 residents occupying it. After remodeling the third floor to add 29 memory care units and an adult day care program, the doctors brought the census up to 66 residents... Read More »Schedule a demo
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