Senior Housing and Assisted Living

Last week, 2,725 retirees celebrated the 10^th Anniversary of Riderwood in Silver Spring, MD,  in all five of the campus’ neighborhoods.  Riderwood, which is managed by Maryland-based Erickson Retirement Communities, is located on 120 acres across two counties in Maryland, Montgomery County and Prince George’s County.  Riderwood employs 1,400 full-time and part-time staff and the campus has 1,950 independent living units, 230 assisted living units and 132 skilled nursing units.  As part of its community, Riderwood has prided itself upon its connections to the local community and the impact its residents have made on the area.  Some of these achievements include:

• Riderwood is the only retirement community in the world that has the Corporate Lands for Learning Certification. It is also the only  retirement community in the United States that has earned Wildlife Habitat  Council Certification.
• Riderwood Friends of Habitat for Humanity support Habitats in Montgomery County, Prince George’s County and Washington, D.C.,  by attending Build Days, making quilts for the families, making kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities.
• Riderwood has an average of 650 residents attending classes each semester in a partnership with the Community College of Prince George’s County.  There is an average of 60 sessions on 40 topics.
• Forty-three students currently attending twelve high schools in Montgomery County and Prince George’s County this past year earned collegiate scholarships in the amount of $6,000 each for their four-year academic careers.  They did so through Riderwood’s Student Scholarship Program in which residents voluntarily contribute money to help student workers at the campus attend college. Riderwood has awarded over $1.35 million in scholarships to 325 students in the Student Scholarship Program since 2002.

“It has been inspiring over the years to watch residents  share their interests and talents,” said Resident Life Senior Manager  Claudia Farr,  “The volunteer leaders across the campus are the backbone of Riderwood and its community. Individual residents have a passion for the community spirit. Our groups and activities reflect our vibrant community and the unique people who live here. Truly, this activity level and volunteerism has enhanced the lives of all of us in some way.”

Interested in operating and developing a CCRC site in the beautiful Rocky Mountains?  Eagle County in Colorado is seeking Requests for Qualifications (RFQ) for developers and operators interested in partnering with the county in bringing a first class continuum of care retirement community (CCRC) on a nine-acre redevelopment parcel within the Town of Eagle’s boundaries owned by Eagle County.

Eagle County, Colorado is a rural resort community of over 54,000 permanent residents, which account for approximately half of its peak population. Eagle County includes the resort communities of Vail and Beaver Creek. The land proposed for the West Eagle CCRC project is adjacent to downtown Eagle, in the heart of the Eagle River Valley. Eagle is a thriving locals’ community 17 miles west of Beaver Creek and 26 miles west of Vail. The Town is home to the County seat and is increasingly becoming an important employment center for the County. There is no CCRC facility in Eagle County—seniors requiring skilled nursing or assisted living facilities leave the County.

The plan for the West Eagle CCRC be a financially self-sustaining, green-built (preferably LEED certified) project, serving a broad spectrum of social-economic residents, including Medicaid recipients, and providing a broad spectrum of care levels, including independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing, and hospice and memory care facilities for at least 100 residents, with the ability to expand as the population of Eagle County grows.  The county has provided a fall 2009 summary of market demand for the project.

While the County will accept operator-developer applications, operators that are not CCRC developers should not partner with developers in responding to this RFQ. The County has published a developer RFQ contemporaneously. Team applications between developers and operators that are separate entities are discouraged.

There will be a tour of the West Eagle CCRC project and pre-submittal conference on Friday, June 4, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. Attendance at either tour is not required but respondents are encouraged to attend at least one.  Statements of Qualifications are due in hard and electronic copy, as provided for in this RFQ, no later than Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at 3 p.m.

As the mainstream press drones on and on about for foreclosures, a well written article in the New York Times talks about foreclosures of senior living projects, entitled “Elder-Care Home Foreclosures, Without Warning”.  The article highlights the need for financial due diligence that should be done on senior housing/living providers prior to moving into those facilities for consumers.  One of the more interesting tidbits are the comments about the “dirty side” of the business associated with the sale of distressed senior housing that the author wrote about as adjunct piece to the article in her blog.  The blog states that:

“The commercial real estate website loopnet.com advertises a six-bed board and care facility for elderly in “the heart of San Francisco,” whose owner “needs to sell.” The ad calls the asking price of $155,000 “a steal,” citing a $14,000 monthly income from its six residents and a five-year term of “interest-only payments.” However, the ad warns, “Do Not Approach Care Home as Staff are unaware of the sale.”

Both the story and blog entries are worth a read.

What do you think about internet sites and their ability to influence decisions for senior housing?  Are you as connected (facebook, twitter) as the media is portraying?  As more and more organizations are touting the connectedness of mature consumers, here is your chance to participate in the study.  Marketing agency Creating Results is conducting a national research project aimed at uncovering attitudes and preferences of mature (40+) consumers towards social media and the Internet. Unlike other recent research, the two-survey effort looks at the satisfaction, frustrations and motivations of older people online.  Creating Results has been working with leading CCRC’s and is now opening the survey up to any Internet users ages 40 and up.

Social media survey:  http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/233384/40-plus-social-media

Opinions on web site usability and the role sites play in move decisions are welcomed at http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/249736/40-plus-web-preferences.

The online surveys will close April 25, 2010 and the results will be shared here on SHN.

On Friday, the attorneys for Erickson Retirement Communities LLC and its affiliated debtors announced that it has emerged from bankruptcy after the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas confirmed the debtors’ plan of reorganization and sale to Redwood Capital Investments LLC.  The exit from Chapter 11 culminated with Redwood Capital agreeing to purchase all of Erickson’s assets for $365 million after Erickson spent just over six months in the bankruptcy process. The conditions of Redwood Capital’s successful bid required that a consensual plan of reorganization be agreed to by Erickson’s numerous creditors holding in excess of $2 billion of debt no later than April 30, 2010.  Erickson’s organization includes 20 continuing-care retirement communities that serve more than 23,000 residents throughout 11 states.

"It’s highly unusual and remarkable that a complex bankruptcy of this scale was completed in such a tight timeframe," said Thomas Califano, vice chair of DLA Piper’s Restructuring practice. "It was essential that this transaction and reorganization be completed in an expeditious manner to preserve the rights of the residents. The only way this would be done was by aggressively driving the process to a result."

"We pursued an aggressive time schedule designed to capitalize on Erickson’s inherent value in the senior living sector and to avoid a deterioration of Erickson’s business. The expedited auction and reorganization allowed the company to preserve value for all stakeholders and protect the residents interest in their living communities," said John Cusack, Vice-chair of DLA Piper’s Finance practice and Chair of its Real Estate Capital Markets Group. "With financing for the purchase and development of new senior living facilities still generally unavailable to its competitors, Erickson under Redwood Capital’s ownership will find itself in a unique position to grow based on several existing sites that are ready for development and expansion."

Summit Hills, a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in Spartanburg, South Carolina, was recently recognized by the Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA) for its role in piloting an innovative, aquatics-based therapy program called WAVES to members suffering from memory loss.   WAVES program, developed by Summit Hills’ parent company Senior Living Communities, combines low-impact aerobics with the therapeutic benefits of warm water to reduce agitation, increase appetite and improve sleeping patterns for those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. 

“Tonya Ray, our wellness coordinator and Kelly Ivey, our director of member services, have worked diligently to train staff and implement this program for our members,” Summit Hills Executive Director Amy Thomas said.  “This award aligns our name and the larger Senior Living Communities’ brand with industry leaders who are working to change the landscape of health care across the nation … it’s a huge honor.”

University Retirement Community at Davis, California (URC) announced that it recently earned re-accreditation from the Continuing Care Accreditation Commission of the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (known as CARF-CCAC).  URC, which opened its doors in 2000, is an affiliate of Pacific Retirement Services, Inc. (PRS). It has been accredited since September 2003, when it was the youngest community ever to receive this coveted rating. URC is undergoing a 64,450-square-foot expansion on its 15-acre campus near U.C. Davis.

“In addition to our surveys by the California Department of Health Services, the California Department of Social Services, financial audits, and due diligence reviews, among others,” says URC Executive Administrator Mike Morris, “the CARF-CCAC accreditation process measures our conformance with approximately 1,800 industry standards. We thank URC residents, URC and PRS management, and the board of directors for their involvement and support.”

Technorati Tags: Retirement Communities,California Real Estate

CLW Health Care Services Group recently celebrated its involvement in the sale of Capstone Village, an Entrance Fee Continuing Care Retirement Community located on the campus of The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  The facility, built in 2004, is located on 24 acres adjacent to the University of Alabama.  The sale for $9.5 million includes 159 total units including 22 Independent Living Garden Homes, 108 Independent Living Apartments, and a 29-unit Health Center (13 Assisted Living and 16 Memory Care units).

Friends Homes Inc. (Friends), a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) operator in North Carolina, recently announced a partnership with FLS Energy for installation of 208 solar thermal collector panels in its two continuing care retirement communities, Friends Homes at Guilford and Friends Homes West.  As one of the largest ever installed solar thermal systems in a retirement community in the United States, the project will create 10,000 gallons of solar heated water each day for nine of Friends Homes’ buildings and facilities.   The solar thermal facilities will be roof mounted to the selected facilities requiring about 12,480 sq. ft. of roof space and will reduce carbon emissions by almost 150 tons per year and will save approximately $30,000.00 per year in fossil fuel cost. Construction is slated to begin in April with completion projected for September.  FLS Energy is financing the solar thermal project at Friends Homes through its Solar Energy Purchase Agreement.

The solar project, which will be metered, comes with a “performance guarantee” from FLS Energy of the amount of solar energy that will be generated each year. Duke Energy is purchasing renewable energy credits from this solar energy system to meet North Carolina’s renewable energy mandates. FLS Energy will also be responsible for all maintenance of the system. Completion of the solar hot water project in September will establish Friends Homes as one of the most sustainable continuing care retirement communities in the United States.

Wilson Sheldon, CEO, of Friends Homes Inc., said, “It is our belief that we must reduce the consumption of fossil fuels. Installing these solar thermal units in our retirement communities means taking a major step in our commitment to utilizing renewable energy. Not only do we want to be good stewards of the environment, but also, we are looking for ways to contain costs so that our communities remain affordable.”

“This project will establish Friends Home as one of the strongest leaders in North Carolina for developing clean renewable energy for their facilities,” said FLS Energy’s Finance Director, Brownie Newman. “Friends Homes paid nothing upfront and will begin seeing the savings immediately.”

Senior Quality Lifestyles Corporation (SQLC), a Texas-based nonprofit sponsor of senior living communities, announced that financing was recently completed for its latest project, Mirador.  Ziegler Capital Markets served as bond underwriter of the $79 million financing for the the 17-acre campus scheduled to open in 2011.  Construction is underway for the Corpus Christi, Texas gated community and will include approximately 125 customized independent living apartment homes, each with a fully equipped kitchen, washer and dryer, and 24-hour emergency response system, as well as 44 private assisted living suites, 41 private rooms for dignified nursing care, and 18 private residences for memory support. According to Greystone Communities, the Irving, Texas-based development partner, the economic impact of the project for the Corpus Christi community will be significant.

“We are pleased to complete the successful financing of Mirador in the face of what has been not only a very difficult financing period, but one of the most challenging economic periods for our economy in my business career,” said Charles B. Brewer, President and CEO of SQLC. “I believe it reflects very favorably on the concept and design of this senior living community, the talented team that has brought it to the market, and truly the market itself – Corpus Christi – which has embraced the project.”      

The community will serve 125 families seeking an active lifestyle and a premier address close to local restaurants, shops and attractions. 

“Mirador will support the Corpus Christi economy in a big way with a $32,000,000 construction contract,” said Burt Derr, Vice President of Developmental Services of Greystone Communities.  Derr projects that, at the peak of construction, Andres Construction will employ more than 300 construction personnel.