CHICAGO- Oak Grove Capital announced last week the closing of a $259 million Fannie Mae DUS credit facility for Brookdale Senior Living, Inc., one of the nation's largest providers of housing for seniors and others who need special services such as memory care units. The 10-year facility will refinance loans for 23 properties in Florida, New York, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Texas and other states with a total of 1,781 units.

“The challenge was being able to underwrite 23 properties,” says Bill Kauffman, the Chicago-based managing director of Oak Grove's Seniors Housing and Healthcare Finance Group, especially since “there were two pools of loans with different maturity dates.” Oak Grove began the process in mid-February and closed in mid-April.

“That's a fast turnaround,” Kauffman adds. With this many properties, “it's complicated since there are so many legal documents to go through and so much paper to push.” Part of the deal involved paying off tax-exempt bonds which can only get done on certain days. Either Oak Grove closed in mid-April, or they “had to wait until mid-May. So, that put a lot of pressure on everyone.”

It didn't hurt that “Fannie Mae has become more aggressive in turning around financing for senior housing properties,” according to Kauffman, primarily because REITs such as Chicago-based Ventas Inc. “have bought so many senior properties within the last three years.”

Instant Insights /

Oak Grove Gets $259 M for Senior Housing

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