Welltower and Hines are planning more luxury housing for seniors in Manhattan

Welltower and Hines are doubling down on their bet on luxury housing for seniors in Manhattan. The pair bought an Upper West Side development site for $61 million, where they plan to build their second luxury assisted-living tower for seniors in New York.

Welltower, the largest senior-housing real estate investment trust, and Hines this week bought two properties at 2330 Broadway at the corner of West 85th Street, Bloomberg reported. A third, undisclosed investor has an equity stake in the project, and there is currently no debt.

The partners plan to demolish the current buildings and develop a 17-story assisted-living home with a spa, rooftop garden and a “bistro” for residents to enjoy drinks or a card game, Hines managing director Sarah Hawkins told Bloomberg.

“All the science points to seniors having better healthcare outcomes and better cognitive outcomes when they’re in a community, when they’re actively engaged, as opposed to being passive,” Tommy Craig, a senior managing director at Hines for the New York region, told the publication. “We’re really aiming to get people who otherwise have home health care and are living alone.”

Hines and Welltower are building a similar project on the East Side of Midtown, where in 2016 they purchased the property at 677 Lexington Avenue for $60.9 million.

An earlier estimates at that project pegged rents that could go to more than $20,000 per month, though Welltower CEO Thomas DeRosa said that, compared to the cost of home-health aides, that could be a bargain.

“You could spend anywhere between $22,000 and $36,000 a month to have three shifts, seven days a week,” DeRosa said. “You’ll save money moving into one of these buildings.” [Bloomberg] – Rich Bockmann