Fortress Snags Significant Senior Housing Asset
The buyer assumed what at origination was the biggest health-care loan of its type in HUD's history.
Fortress Investment Group, through funds managed by its affiliates, has acquired The Village at Gainesville, a 639-unit senior housing community located in Gainesville, Fla. As part of the deal, the buyer assumed the in-place financing, which at the time of origination in 2021 was said to be the biggest healthcare 232(a)(7) loan in HUD’s history, totaling $94.3 million.
The previous owner was the not-for-profit SanteFe Healthcare, which owns and operates several senior housing communities in Central and South Florida. A sale price was not disclosed.
Continuum Advisors represented the previous owner in the transaction. The latter firm’s co-founders, Jay Jordan and David Kliewer, led the sales effort.
The Village at Gainesville is among the largest senior housing communities in the nation. The 100-acre campus features 45 single-family cottages and nine multi-unit residential buildings – six of which are independent living, one is assisted-living and two are memory care – and a number of clubhouses and other amenities. Eighty percent of the units are dedicated to independent living.
The independent living buildings are sectioned into one- and two-bedroom floorplans. of various configurations. At The Cypress, for instance, there are floorplans ranging from 630 square feet to 1,506 square feet, while the units at Tower Villas have a somewhat smaller range, of 550 square feet to 1,416 square feet. The Cottage Place offers single-family floorplans as large as 1,423 square feet, with attached garages.
Common-area amenities are found in two central amenity buildings, and include dining, fitness, on-site healthcare and other services. Recreational activities and cultural events take place across the community’s 100 acres, which feature conservation wetlands, native tall pines and live oak trees.
Village’s past and future
Fortress is planning a major renovation of plumbing, appliances and décor at The Lake House, The Village’s oldest building. The investor is also planning improvements to the memory care residences, and will upgrade various on-site amenities.
The Village at Gainesville originally dates from the senior housing boom of the 1980s. SantaFe Healthcare has made a number of renovations at the property in the decades since then. Since 2020, firm has spent $3 million annually on capital improvements at the community, including a complete renovation of the community’s primary dining and amenities venue.Â
Including The Village at Gainesville, Fortress now owns 16 senior housing properties nationwide. All together, the firm has about $50 billion in assets under management.
Senior housing develops in doldrums
Senior housing development is at its lowest level since 2014, according to the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care.
READ ALSO: Senior Housing Ages Gracefully, but Challenges Persist
The number of new units breaking ground has been less than the number of new units being delivered for a full year now, NIC reports. That last happened in pandemic-impacted 2021 and, before that, in 2009 during the Global Financial Crisis.
Senior housing inventory is actually shrinking in several markets due to property closures or units being converted to other uses, even as fewer units come on ine to replace them. San Antonio is one such market, as it has nearly 4 percent fewer senior housing units now than it did three years ago, NIC notes. Inventory has declined by nearly 2 percent in such other markets as Riverside and Sacramento, Calif., as well as Pittsburgh.
Still, demand remains robust, with average occupancy inching up 0.2 percentage points to 87.4 percent in the first quarter of 2025. The latter metric has increased for 14 consecutive quarters.
