$24M Gains West Living Entrance

John Rimbach, West Living's president, says senior-oriented assets in high-visibility locations are being targeted for investment. "That's what was nice about the McDowell Village asset," he tells GlobeSt.com. "It's located on McDowell, right next to the senior center." The senior center in question is the city-run facility, adjacent to McDowell Village at 8300 E. McDowell Rd.

Rimbach says West Living was launched about a year ago, specifically to invest in senior housing projects. The original vision of the company, he continues, was ground-up construction, and two projects are underway in California.

"As the last 12 months have played out, the acquisition opportunities can be fairly enticing, especially in terms of replacement costs," Rimbach notes. "In that regard, though Phoenix and Scottsdale have been hammered, we're bullish long-term on those markets as destination locations for seniors."

He goes on to say that during the first part of the year, not many assets were trading because of buyer-seller disconnect in terms of price. McDowell Village, he explains, hit West Living's radar screen in April, but price mismatch prevented anything from getting done.

"Once the seller let the market dictate where things were, we were able to get the property under contract in July," Rimbach says. The transaction closed a little more than 10 days ago.

Rimbach says West Living is interested in two other Opus West/RED Group, the 205-unit Hermosa Village in Tucson and the 190-unit Northern Village in Phoenix, but there hasn't been an agreement on price. Nothing is under contract at this point in Arizona, however, the company did close on the 150-unit Castle Hill Retirement Village in Thousand Oaks, CA on Friday.

Rimbach says West Living is interested in properties ranging from 80 units to 300 units on the West Coast and Southwest, with 150-200 units being the company's sweet spot. "We believe that integrated level of care is what the market will look for in the future," he adds.