ORLANDO—Big Rock Partners just bought nine acres of land in the Orlando suburb of Celebration, FL from Celebration Company. The developer plans to build a $60 million, class A senior housing rental development there with ground breaking in the first quarter of 2015. It's significant because it's Celebration's first senior housing community to offer independent living, assisted living and memory care services.

Big Rock has big backers. Sabra Health Care REIT loaned the firm $4.5 million for the land transaction and plans to offer additional capital to build the senior housing facility, according to Big Rock senior managing principal Richard Ackerman. 

“The senior living industry is in flux, as the economy recovers and demand rises,” says Ackerman, who oversaw Apollo Real Estate Advisors' West Coast and Japan investments before forming Big Rock in 2006. “Occupancy stayed relatively steady throughout the recession, but many senior living communities built 25 or 30 years ago have not kept pace with the amenities and ambiance consumers now expect. Demand is strong nationwide for a new generation of rental alternatives to the traditional 'buy-in' continuing care retirement community.”

The senior housing facility will offer 225 rental residences when it comes to market in mid-2016. Perkins Eastman, an international senior living design and consulting firm, is designing the senior housing community. America's third largest senior living management company, Life Care Services, will operate and market the community. Walker & Dunlop is the finance advisor.

“Institutional investors were not big players in the senior housing space until about two years ago,” says Ackerman, who oversaw the successful turnaround of Summerville Senior Living, one of the nation's largest assisted living companies and now part of Brookdale Senior Living, for Apollo. “Now, with ample capital available, they're taking a fresh look at new rental communities that include independent and assisted living plus memory care. At the same time, Baby Boomers are driving real changes in quality, choices and flexibility of senior living environments for their parents and, in future, for themselves.”

As Akerman sees it, new $50 million and up rental developments with choice locations and resort-style amenities are mitigating risk for institutional investors and appealing to consumers' sophisticated tastes and financial realities. Big Rock has a second property under contract in Palm Beach County, FL and is actively pursuing other class A sites.

The community of Celebration just southwest of Orlando. Developed by The Walt Disney Company, Celebration has, since its founding in the mid-1990s, gained worldwide recognition as a highly successful example of New Urbanism principles, with diverse housing types for residents of all ages.