Area Developer Bullish on Senior Low-Income Projects

The 25-year-old company manages and develops residences for low and middle-income seniors and has several projects in North Carolina in smaller cities such as Mocksville, Cherryville, Kinston and Hamlet.

The company has a cap of paying no more than $150,000 for its three-acre or so sites. "We find property at those rates is usually in smaller communities," Benton says. "Land prices are viable and they usually want us and support our coming there."

The upper end of the market in areas such as Charlotte is highly competitive, he says, but far less so in the more affordable range. Prices for occupants of Diversified-built properties are more like $1,000 a month for single occupants, compared to $2,700 or even topping $3,000 for the more upscale homes.

Typical Diversified facilities are 60-beds. Benton says the company has the capacity to do about four or five deals a year.

Diversified manages 57 affordable housing complexes with 2,359 units in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Of the 57 companies, Diversified controls 18, either through direct ownership of management rights or through ownership by an affiliated entity. Many of its communities easily rent up within a year of opening, Benton says.

On the funding front, Nasdaq's Listing Qualifications Panel has denied the company's appeal for continued listing on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market. Shares from that market were delisted in late April. But Benton says common stock shares will be traded on the OTC Bulletin Board.

A Nasdaq listing denial of its appeal should have no operational impact on the company, the CEO tells GlobeSt.com.

"We prefer it didn't happen, but it's just not going to be a problem for the company," Benton says. The company would like to re-enter the financial markets at a later date. "Right now, we're looking to tax-exempt bonds and FHA for funding," he says.