Greystone Acquires ARA Seniors Housing Group to Become One-Stop Shop

Greystone, a New York-based senior housing and multi-family real estate lender, will become a one-stop shop for its senior living providers seeking debt financing, brokerage and advisory services with its acquisition of ARA Seniors Housing Group.

Though the acquisition price was not disclosed, the new entity, Greystone Real Estate Advisors, Inc., will provide a range of full spectrum of services including debt, equity, acquisition and investment sales to funds, private equity groups, regional and national operators, not-for-profit owners and healthcare REITs.

Most critically is that the deal enables Greystone to roll up ARA Seniors Housing Group’s advisory business into its debt financing platform.

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“It adds to our overall capabilities, breadth and depth of what we can provide to our clients,” Greystone Managing Director Cary Tremper told SHN in an exclusive interview. “It’s where we want to be.”

Greystone Real Estate Advisors, Inc. will be led by Mike Garbers and Cody Tremper, former managing directors as ARA National Seniors Housing Group who are bringing with them more than 20 years of combined experience in the senior living industry.

The directorship of both Garbers and Tremper resulted in the disposition of more than $450 million in senior housing properties across the country over the past two years during their tenure together at ARA Real Estate Investment Services, of which ARA’s Senior Housing Group falls.

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“Becoming a part of Greystone, who already has a strong foothold on the industry, has furthered our ability to meet clients’ needs,” said Cody Tremper, former managing director at ARA, who will be joining his brother, Cary, at Greystone.

Garbers has been involved in the acquisition, development or disposition of more than $1.9 billion in senior housing properties over the course of his career, which includes previous positions held at Cushman & Wakefield, senior vice president with H.J. Sims, as well as vice president of acquisitions at CNL Financial Group.

Meanwhile, Cody Tremper has been involved in the construction finance, acquisition finance and disposition of more than $800 million in senior housing assets throughout his career.

Prior to ARA, Tremper was Vice President in the Healthcare Real Estate Lending Group at Guaranty Bank and also served at BBVA Compass, where he originated new construction, acquisition, and mini-perm financing for clients nationwide, including large institutional facilities as well as privately-owned regional clients.

Joining Greystone is believed to be beneficial for all of the parties involved in terms of the extra services each side can now provide to their clients that neither could have before in the past.

“For us, on our sales side, it’s being able to offer a one-stop shop where we can bring debt to a sale and advise a client when figuring out what returns would look like during that debt period or holding period,” Garbers said.

The newly combined entity already has a few assets both currently under letters of intent or in the process of leasing and is working on several debt and brokerage opportunities that Greystone wouldn’t have had by itself formerly, said Scott Kavel, managing director at Greystone who, with Tremper heads the company’s senior housing finance group.

“At Greystone, we already have a large senior housing presence,” Kavel said. “The impetus to acquire ARA was to add value to clients and customers. The senior housing market is growing and the acquisition market is growing, too. It made sense for us to add that platform.”

Written by Jason Oliva

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