An upscale development in San Francisco is the first project to be unveiled by Louisville-based Atria Senior Living and New York City-based Related Cos., which last year announced a joint venture and a planned $3 billion pipeline of urban senior living communities.
The San Francisco project will be a 214-room senior housing building licensed for assisted living, at Van Ness Avenue and O’Farrell Street.
Toledo, Ohio-based real estate investment trust Welltower (NYSE: WELL) is providing financing for the development — an interesting facet of the project, considering that Welltower rival Ventas (NYSE: VTR) holds a 34% stake in Atria. The provider manages about 230 senior living communities for about a dozen owners overall. Its portfolio includes 43 communities in California.
“We are pleased to begin a relationship with Related and Atria on this highly-differentiated and much-needed offering in a marquee location,” Welltower EVP and Chief Investment Officer Shankh Mitra said, in a press release issued Friday. “The Related/Atria JV represents a unique and distinct opportunity that will appeal to a sophisticated, urban senior and is consistent with Welltower’s strategy of providing the next generation of infrastructure for an aging population to live well.”
The property, which formerly housed KRON-TV, was acquired from San Francisco-based real estate development and investment firm Oryx Partners. On April 4, the San Francisco Planning Commission unanimously voted to approve the building to be converted to senior living, according to Friday’s announcement.
Projects under the Atria/Related joint venture will bear a distinct brand, the companies stated last fall when announcing their partnership. Friday’s announcement did not reveal what that brand will be.
Plans call for the development to break ground later this year and open in late 2021.
The building will be located in close proximity to the newly constructed California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) Van Ness Campus hospital. It will also be near a Ventas-owned medical office building.
A variety of restaurants, retail locations and cultural destinations are also within easy walking distance of the location at 1001 Van Ness.
Related and Atria are targeting urban infill markets, many of which are undersupplied with senior living, Moore said last week at Senior Housing News’ BUILD event in Chicago.
It’s a point that Related also made, in the Friday news release.
“There continues to be a severe shortage of urban senior-housing options throughout the country,” said Bryan Cho, executive vice president of Related Cos. “Related Companies has a long history and a deep commitment to investment in San Francisco and the Bay Area, and
we look forward to meeting that need while delivering a great asset for the city and the neighborhood.”
Urban development is a specialty of Related. The real estate firm is behind a variety of high-profile projects, including the $20 billion Hudson Yards mixed-use development in New York City.
As part of the San Fransisco development, Related, Oryx and Atria will be making a contribution to Openhouse to support completion of San Francisco’s first senior center dedicated mainly to serving LGBTQ individuals, located at 75 Laguna.
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