HJ Sims Underwrites $473M Financing for 350-unit SoCal Senior Living Project
The financing is the largest nonprofit, single-site senior living bond package ever issued
By Nick Trombola December 2, 2024 1:01 pm
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A gaggle of developers and investors has secured nearly $500 million in bond financing for a 350-unit luxury senior housing project in Southern California.
The group — Harbert South Bay Partners, Lamb Properties, P3 Foundation and Momentum Senior Living — secured a total of $473 million in publicly offered bonds. HJ Sims was the lone underwriter of the 35-year financing, which is the largest nonprofit, single-site senior living bond ever issued, according to JLL (JLL).
JLL Senior Housing Capital Markets arranged the debt on behalf of the borrowers. JLL also arranged the sale of the 3-acre parcel for the project, dubbed The James, at 1001 Gates Avenue in Irvine, on behalf of seller Lamb Properties. The sale price was not immediately available.
“While tax-exempt financing has been used to finance senior living in the past, this specific structure was innovative for both the clients involved and bond investors,” Jay Wagner, head of JLL’s Senior Housing Capital Markets team, said in a statement.
Once complete, the complex will be Irvine’s first new senior living project in 28 years, per JLL. The property will feature 210 independent housing units, 110 assisted living units and 30 memory care units.
Although its new debt package is by far the biggest, The James isn’t the only senior living project in Orange County to receive a sizable bit of financing this year.
Atria Senior Living and its unnamed real estate investment trust partner in August secured a $52 million floating-rate loan toward its 168-unit Atria Newport Beach facility, which was fully renovated last year.
In July meanwhile, about 40 miles northwest of Atria Newport Beach, GHC Companies paid about $34 million for a 225-unit senior living complex in Huntington Park, Calif. The property, Seville Gardens Apartment Community, is under a building covenant mandating that it be used as senior housing until 2038.
Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.
