Sunrise Senior Living Nears Opening for Second NYC Highrise With Welltower, Hines 

Sunrise Senior Living is slated to strengthen its foothold in New York City’s budding luxury senior living market.

The McLean, Virginia-based company is in the coming weeks opening its forthcoming community in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Construction on the community wrapped up earlier in the year, according to local news publication New York Yimby.

Like the operator’s first Manhattan luxury highrise, Sunrise at East 56th, –  The Apsley is being developed in partnership with international real estate firm Hines and real estate investment trust (REIT) Welltower (NYSE: WELL). 

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The community spans 18-stories, and includes 156 units: 80 units for memory care residents and 76 units for assisted living residents. Amenities in the community include a spa, care center, outdoor terraces, dining bistro, an art studio, theater and a library with a list of books curated by a local bookseller.

Prospective residents can choose from studio, one- and two-bedroom options that range from $15,000 to $30,000 per month for assisted living units and from about $20,000 to $35,000 per month for memory care, according to Sunrise Senior Living General Manager Tom Cana.

Courtesy of Sunrise Senior Living

Cana moved from his role as executive director of one of Sunrise’s New Jersey communities to the same position at Sunrise on East 56th, which opened in late 2021.

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With the upcoming opening of The Apsley, Cana is now taking over management of the operator’s New York City area market. That means administrators and executives directors at the two communities will report to him, and he will provide operational support, a similar structure to Sunrise’s other regional community clusters.

While the regional management structure will be similar to the rest of Sunrise’s portfolio, the marketing efforts and lifestyle offered will differ in some ways, according to Cana.

Sunrise is targeting local residents for The Apsley, a strategy the company also deployed at the East 56th community. While luxury communities can attract residents from far and wide, Cana said he considers local to be prospects within walking distance of the community.

Both communities were built close to Central Park and are located close to multiple stops along the city’s major subway lines.

“We have access to the heart of New York from either community,” Cana said.

“In many cases, they’ve been on the Upper West side their entire lives – decades,” Cana told Senior Housing News. “The other scenario is that their children and family are here and they are moving potentially back to New York City to be closer to loved ones.”

One reason that sprawling mega-markets like New York City have not been hotbeds for luxury senior living development over the years is that residents in these demographics and markets often have access to the services and support they might otherwise need, and would rather choose to age at home.

That is why Sunrise is emphasizing a lifestyle with all of the cultural access that New York City has to offer, but with a specific aim toward serving older adults.

“New York City offers an opportunity for these residents to really have these experiences that they have known their whole life,” Cana told SHN last year in November. “And we can continue to support those experiences, even though they’re living at a Sunrise assisted living [community].”

Sunrise has also cultivated relationships with NYC institutions in the area, including the Julliard School, Waldorf Astoria, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and Carnegie Hall to provide programming and engagement for residents at both communities.

Rounding out the care side, Sunrise has forged relationships with some of the city’s major hospitals and nursing homes to help supplement the care that residents already receive in the community.

”We’ve earned the trust of those healthcare providers in the city,” Cana said.

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