SAN CLEMENTE, Calif., Jan. 8, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CareTrust REIT, Inc. (Nasdaq:CTRE) today announced that it completed a $7.5 million preferred equity investment with Signature Senior Living and Milestone Retirement Communities. The investment will be used to develop Signature Senior Living at Arvada, a planned 134-unit upscale assisted living and memory care community in Arvada, Colorado, a first-ring suburb of Denver. The community will be constructed on a five-acre site, and is slated for completion in early 2016.
"We are pleased to be partnering with the CareTrust team on this project," said Paul Habeeb, founder and Chairman of Signature Senior Living. "They understood the challenges of financing new seniors housing development, and provided a vital piece of the capital structure we needed to get it done," he added.
Paul Dendy, Chief Executive Officer of Milestone, agreed. "Milestone believes that the partnership with Signature and CareTrust is a platform for intelligent growth in the seniors housing space," he said. "It allows us to target under-served and high-barrier-to-entry markets, where we can bring the best in design, programs and operations to the residents, staff and investors we serve," he noted.
CareTrust Chief Financial Officer Bill Wagner noted that CareTrust was attracted to the Arvada opportunity based on the excellent market characteristics, well-located site and especially the experienced development and operations teams. "The Signature and Milestone teams together bring years of quality industry experience in seniors housing development, investment and management," he said. "We believe that combining their skills and our funds with the demand for quality senior living in the Denver marketplace make this project work, and work well," he added.
The preferred equity investment delivers a 12.0% annual preferred return to CareTrust. After development Milestone will manage the community to stabilization, and then a Milestone operating entity in which Signature is a participant will operate the community under a long-term net lease. With its investment, CareTrust obtained an option to purchase the new community at a fixed-formula price upon stabilization, with an initial lease yield of at least 8.0%.
About Signature Senior Living
Signature Senior Living, LLC is a private for-profit senior housing provider currently developing assisted living and memory care facilities in Colorado and Southern California. More information about Signature is available at www.signaturesl.com.
About Milestone Retirement Communities
Milestone Retirement Communities, LLC is a privately-owned Vancouver, Washington company founded by Paul Dendy, Mark Wiesner and Don Anderson. Milestone manages 27 communities totaling 2,773 resident units, and Milestone's principals have ownership or lease positions in 24 of the 27 communities. The company manages two other properties in Colorado: Caley Ridge in Englewood and Northglenn Heights in Northglenn. More information about Milestone is available at www.milestoneretirement.com.
About CareTrustTM
CareTrust REIT, Inc. is a real estate investment company that is engaged in the ownership, acquisition and leasing of seniors housing and healthcare-related properties. CareTrust is organized and conducts its operations to qualify as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes. With 99 net-leased healthcare properties and three operated seniors housing properties in twelve states, CareTrust is pursuing opportunities nationwide to acquire additional properties that will be leased to a diverse group of local, regional and national seniors housing operators, healthcare services providers, and other healthcare-related businesses. More information about CareTrust is available at www.caretrustreit.com.