Newport Beach-based CT and Irvine-based Renaissance paid $18 million for the property, which they acquired from SHP Huntington Terrace LLC. The partners bought the property in a direct, buyer-to-seller transaction, with debt financing provided by Chicago-based Capri Capital Finance LLC and Capri Urban Capital I LLC.

The purchase of the senior housing project is part of an ongoing program of "always looking for more brand-oriented businesses with real estate components," according to Robert M. Campbell, president of CT Realty. For example, Campbell tells GlobeSt.com, CT's holdings already include self-storage properties, and the company is likely to buy some golf courses as well.

"Like the self-storage business, it's an operating business that has a real estate component to it," Campbell says of the senior housing segment. CT Realty considered some senior housing properties over the past five or six years, but the company chose not to acquire them because it didn't have a structure in place to manage the properties, Campbell says. He explains that good management is crucial for senior housing because the properties require a quality operator in order to succeed, and he says CT Realty has such an operator in Renaissance. Campbell notes that his firm knows the Renaissance senior partners and management well, including co-chairman Scott McNutt, who was Campbell's CFO at the Laguna Niguel-based Birtcher development organization for eight years.

The Huntington Terrace facility occupies a 3.3-acre site at 18800 Florida St., off Beach Boulevard near Main Street and the Five Points Shopping Center. The garden-style complex, which offers both independent and assisted living apartments, was 97% occupied at the time of the sale.

Huntington Terrace was built in 1976 and was renovated with approximately $1.6 million in upgrades and improvements in recent years. The primary, three-story building at the complex includes its common areas as well as 134 apartments featuring a one-bedroom floor plan with kitchenette and bath. In addition, three one-story buildings collectively include 17 "casita" apartments with private exterior entrances, patios and kitchenettes. All units have a centrally monitored resident call system with pull chains for the safety of the residents.

On-site amenities include a library, movie theater, exercise room, hair salon, 2,000-sf clubhouse, a fitness center, pool and spa, and putting green. The complex also provides dining facilities and services, an activity program as well as transportation services.Besides managing Huntington Terrace, which it also managed under the previous owner, Renaissance Senior Living operates 23 senior living communities comprising approximately 3,300 units in a portfolio valued in excess of $600 million. CT Realty Corp., established in 1994, has completed more than 120 transactions totaling more than $1.5 billion of acquisitions, sales, development and redevelopment.