Cushman & Wakefield arranges $49.6 million in construction financing for LCB Senior Living

In its exclusive representation of LCB Senior Living, Cushman & Wakefield Senior Housing Capital Markets has arranged $49.6 million in construction financing and joint venture equity for two senior housing developments in New England. The Residence at Salem Woods in Salem will be an 84-apartment/88-bed independent, assisted and memory care community situated in a three-story building on a 7-acre site. Wells Fargo provided $15.6 million in construction financing while the joint venture equity was provided by an institutional investor. The project broke ground in November 2014 and is expected to open in early 2016. The Residence at Quarry Hill in South Burlington, Vermont will be a 102-apartment/104-bed independent, assisted and memory care community developed on a 2.7 acre site just outside of downtown Burlington. The land site was acquired as part of a larger portfolio acquisition that occurred earlier in 2014 which included two premier senior housing properties in Vermont. PNC Bank provided $18.4 million in construction financing while Virtus Real Estate Capital provided $8.5 million in joint venture equity. Construction will commence this month with a planned Summer 2016 opening. The Cushman & Wakefield team involved in the transactions included executive managing director Rick Swartz, managing director Jay Wagner, director Aaron Rosenzweig and associate Stuart Kim. "LCB has had a tremendous 2014 which included four groundbreakings along with another four property acquisitions," said Swartz. Added Rosenzweig, "The organization has demonstrated the ability to appropriately scale as a company, attract best-in-class employees and find highly desirable development sites and acquisition opportunities, all of which have resulted in attracting best-in class capital partners." Stoller said, "we are thrilled to enter into both the Salem New Hampshire and South Burlington markets, two areas we believe demonstrate excellent market characteristics. We're fortunate to be able to expand our relationship with our capital partners on these two transaction including PNC Bank, Wells Fargo and Virtus, who have all been terrific on the execution of these transactions." Led by Michael Stoller and Steve Puliafico, LCB Senior Living is a senior housing owner/operator consisting of the former management team of Newton Senior Living, which was the 16th largest assisted living company in the nation at the time of its sale to Lazard Freres in 2005. LCB is developing and acquiring a portfolio of senior housing communities in the New England market and since it recapitalized its organization in early 2013 has broken ground on eight properties and acquired an additional six properties across five New England states totaling over $364 million in project capitalization. The Residence at Salem Woods and The Residence at Quarry Hill mark LCB's 7th and 8th senior housing developments since the organization's 2013 recapitalization. To-date LCB owns and operates 1,343 seniors housing beds, 523 of which are currently under construction.