Senior Housing Finance Activity: Ziegler, Arbor, Cushman & Wakefield, Greystone

Ziegler Secures $145 Million for Emerald Communities’ Heron’s Key

Ziegler, a specialty investment bank and one of the nation’s leading underwriters for not-for-profit senior living provider financing, secured $145 million in financing for Heron’s Key in Gig Harbor, Washington.

Heron’s Key is “life care retirement community” that will hold 194 independent living units and 45 skilled nursing units after its Phase I of development. Phase II will account for an additional 88 independent living units and 32 memory care assisted living units.

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The investment bank closed on $145,055,000 non-rate, fixed-rate Series 2015 Bonds, with a combination of both permanent and temporary series for the community, which will be developed on nearly 18 acres of the landscaped and wooded park-like Harbor Hill area of Gig Harbor.

Ziegler is the sole underwriter for the community’s sponsor, Emerald Communities. Emerald Communities is also parent company to the Emerald Heights community in Redmond, Washington, and has been a client of Ziegler for 14 years.

“We appreciate our long-term working relationship with Ziegler; their expertise, experience and guidance were instrumental in Emerald Communities realizing this very significant milestone,” said Lisa Hardy, president and CEO of Emerald Communities. “We’re also very pleased that our new financing partners recognize the value that Heron’s Key brings to the Peninsula, in their confidence in the Board and Management, and of their support in this important expansion of mission for Emerald Communities.”

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Arbor Announced as Freddie Mac Seniors Housing Lender 

Arbor Commercial Mortgage, LLC, has been appointed Freddie Mac’s latest Seniors Housing Lender, increasing the financing and loan products Arbor is able to provide independent and assisted living properties and senior living sites with memory care and skilled nursing. 

As the newest Freddie Mac Seniors Housing Lender, Arbor provided a $12.1 million 10-year refinancing loan for Cambridge Court Assisted Living with 30 years of amortization. Cambridge Court is a 16-year-old property with a 96.5% occupancy rate and 98 units in Mesquite, Texas. 

“We are pleased to be able to partner once again with Freddie Mac, and this time as its newest seniors housing lender,” Ivan Kaufman, Arbor’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “With this loan product, we have significantly elevated our growing Seniors Housing and Healthcare Financing group and established it as one of the leading and most comprehensive sources for financing in the industry.”

Arbor is not one of 15 lenders are approved Freddie Mac Seniors Housing Lenders. The company obtained its Fannie Mae Seniors Housing DUS license weeks before the announcement with Freddie Mac and is already established with the FHA.

By volume, Arbor is a top 10 Fannie Mae DUS Multifamily lender and Fannie Mae Senior Housing Lender. The company adds Freddie Mac Seniors Housing Lender to its other offerings. 

“We have enjoyed a strong and quickly growing partnership with Arbor in the short 15 months we have been working with the company,” Steven Schmidt, Freddie Mac’s Senior Housing director, said is a statement. “Based upon the speed and success in which this partnership has been developing, we look forward to an even more successful future together, providing market-leading loan products within the seniors housing and multifamily sectors.”

Cushman and Wakefield Arranges Financing for Florida Luxury Senior Housing

Cushman and Wakefield’s Senior Housing Capital Markets group, acting as an advisor to ROC Seniors Housing, arranged financing for an assisted living and memory care community in Venice, Florida. 

ROC Seniors, a private equity real estate manager, was the investor on the recapitalization and entered the joint venture with Freedom Senior Management, where financing was provided by Capital One.

Senior Director Aaron Rosenzweig and associates Timothy Hosmer and Caryn Miller of Cushman and Wakefield’s Senior Housing Capital Markets group arranged the financing with Bridge Realty Group.

The property, Jacaranda Terrace, is a luxury independent community with 492 senior housing units on 33 acres. The community holds 436 independent living units, 20 assisted living units and 36 memory care units. 

The community was built in phases between 1998 and 2015, which offered residents payment options, from life estate to rentals and fee simple contracts. The original financing for the initial acquisition provided the possibility of a future expansion of 120 more units of assisted living and independent living apartments. 

“The financing provided for the new Jacaranda Trace venture demonstrated a very strong execution for a community with a variety of income streams including entrance fees,” Rosenzweig said in a statement. “Capital One provided the client flexible terms with respect to operations as well as to the expansion of the community.”

Ziegler Closes $109 Million Financing for Texas-based Community The Buckingham

Specialty investment bank Ziegler closed $109,380,000 financing for The Buckingham Senior Living Community near Houston, Texas. Ziegler announced the closing of tax-exempt, fixed-rate Series 2015 Bonds for the financing. 

Senior Quality Lifestyles Corporation (SQLC) was the sole corporate member of the community, also know as the Obligor. SQLC is a Texas-based not-for-profit agency since 2002 and is the sole corporate member to six other organizations.

The Obligor community, known as The Buckingham, sits on a 23-acre plot in the Memorial/Tanglewood areas of Houston, west of the Houston Galleria. The community holds 204 residential independent living apartments, 43 assisted living units and 16 memory support assisted living suites. The facility also boasts an assisted living center and health center with 60 nursing beds.

In 2014, the Obligor purchased 6 additional acres of land adjacent to the existing community with the proceeds after closing on Series 2014 bonds totaling $18,575,000. The bond proceeds may also be used for demolition of existing facilities and predevelopment costs of future expansion.

“SQLC has developed a reputation for the operation of high quality senior living communities and has been one of the more active senior living capital markets participants in the past 15 years with over $1 billion in par amount of bonds issued since 1999,” Rich Scanlon, managing director in Ziegler’s senior living practice, said in a statement. “The Buckingham expansions changes the character of this community and will solidify their reputation as the senior living provider of choice in western Houston.”

Greystone Closes $58.3 Million Freddie Mac Refinance Loan 

Greystone, a national real estate lending, investment and advisory firm, closed a $58.3 million refinance loan with Freddie Mac for a Santa Rosa, California, independent living facility, Commercial Observer reported.

The facility, Varenna at Fountaingrove, is owned and operated by affiliates of Oakmont Senior Living, lies in Sonoma County and offers amenities such as concierge and day spa services, activity rooms, a salon, private theater, walking paths, gardens and a wellness center. The community has 163 independent living units. 

The 10-year refinancing loan is the second Freddie Mac capital markets execution sponsored by Greystone. 

“As one of our marquis assets, Varenna now benefits from 10-year financing at an attractive rate, and we’re thrilled that the Freddie Mac Index Lock product was executed flawlessly by Greystone, virtually eliminating any rate risk during the processing of the transaction,” Oakmont Senior Living CFO Joe Lin told Commercial Observer.

Written by Amy Baxter

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