A California-based senior living owner, operator, and developer is differentiating its $160 million new development pipeline by locating all the projects in mixed-use, master-planned communities.
Kisco Senior Living, headquartered in Carlsbad, California, has another $50-70 million slated for expansions and renovations at five existing communities in addition to the ground-up projects.
“Going forward, in the communities we either acquire or develop ourselves, that’s a key differentiator for our company to be in places that have walk-through amenities,” says Mitch Brown, Kisco Senior Living’s chief development officer.
Sagewood at Daybreak, in South Jordan, Utah in the Salt Lake City metro is an approximately $45 million independent living, assisted living, and memory care community scheduled to open in March 2015.
The project began last fall and is located in Daybreak, a “new urban”-style master-planned community being developed by Kennecott Land, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto Group. The 4,000 acre Daybreak is expected to eventually have more than 20,000 residential units and more than 9 million square feet of commercial space, and Sagewood is located in the heart of the community.
“Our site is in the town center, walkable to retail, other services, to the man-made lake, walking trails, and next to a 550-unit active adult project by Ivory Homes,” says Brown.
There’s also a planned $30 million senior living community on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. ‘Ilima at Leihano is located in Kapolei, a pedestrian-oriented master-planned community. Kisco is licensing the entire 84-unit community for assisted living, but there will also be some independent living and memory care units.
Similar to the Utah community, ‘Ilima is close to other attractions and is adjacent to the Ko Olina Resort, a 642-acre master-planned vacation and residential community home to Disney and Marriott resorts and clubs. Kisco owns additional land surrounding ‘Ilima with plans for future expansion, although it has also sold some parcels to other businesses.
There’s also the Cardinal at North Hills in Raleigh, N.C., which Brown says will be Kisco’s flagship community upon completion. Construction on the approximately $85 million Cardinal will begin in the next couple months, although it won’t be finished until sometime in 2016’s second quarter.
The 225-unit rental CCRC will have 165 independent living apartments and a separate 60-unit healthcare center with assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing. The campus will also feature a 35,000-square-foot lifestyle clubhouse connected to the independent living buildings, three different dining venues, a spa and wellness center, and other features.
“It’s a really upscale project,” Brown says. “This is a vibrant, amazing area that has offices, hotels, retail, fitness/health clubs, condos and apartments… When you walk out your front door, you’re in the middle of this amazing array of restaurants and places for recreation and shopping.”
The locations of all three projects—along with various other communities in Kisco’s portfolio—are very intentional. Right now, the senior living industry is still serving the parents of boomers, says Brown. But those adult children who are shopping for their parents are thinking ahead for themselves, and the kinds of places they’d want to live someday.
“These are places where the next waves of people entering our space want to be,” says Brown, himself a boomer. “Nobody wants to feel isolated, away from the larger sense of community. People want to be in places where there are fun things to do, multiple generations, close to their churches, clubs, friends, family.”
In addition to the new developments, Kisco is also considering five locations where it either owns or controls additional land adjacent to existing campuses to see where it can expand and add additional independent living, assisted living, or memory care units wherever there are gaps in current offerings. Each project will range between around $9-15 million, and Brown says the total effort could add another 300-400 units to Kisco’s existing 3,627-unit portfolio.
“We’re studying each location and are actively preplanning or designing expansions of our existing communities,” Brown says. “It’s great because we’re already there; we can expand our continuum of services and housing. That’s a pretty good chunk of our business.”
Written by Alyssa Gerace
Companies featured in this article:
