Bridge sells St. Charles senior living facility for $19M

Jonathan Slager’s Bridge Investment Group sold a senior living facility in Chicago’s western suburbs for $19 million, continuing a commercial real estate selloff of area assets by the company.

An affiliate of Chicago-based Citrine Investment Group, helmed by Lynn Jerath, picked up River Glen of St. Charles, located at 975 North Fifth Avenue in St. Charles, from the publicly traded real estate investment trust, according to Kane County public records.

Bridge purchased the property in 2016, and while a price wasn’t recorded on the deed due to the seller’s exemption from a transfer tax payment as a nonprofit, an assessor’s web page for the asset shows Bridge paid $8 million to buy it. It’s unclear if Bridge invested additional capital into upgrades at the property. Neither the buyer nor the seller on the recent deal responded to requests for comment.

The property features at least 78 total units that include senior care services regulated by the state, comprising 15 for people requiring memory care and 63 others for independent and assisted living arrangements, according to a state webpage.

It’s also not the first Chicago-area property Bridge has sold or looked into selling in recent weeks. The REIT recently took a loss on the mostly vacant Windy Point office campus in Schaumburg, offloading the asset for at least $54 million less than what it paid to buy it. Bridge is also seeking a buyer for the O’Hare International Center office complex in Rosemont.

Senior housing has drawn increased interest from real estate investors amid the pandemic. The asset class has had more stable pricing in an inflationary market, and small rent increases usually won’t push out residents.

While tenants left communal living situations during the height of the Covid-19 health crisis, occupancy has started to recover. More than 80 percent of investors expect senior housing communities to reach pre-pandemic residency levels by the end of 2023, according to the results of a survey by CBRE published last year.

Other large senior housing asset class purchases in the Chicago area include Jeff Jaeger and Scott Alter’s Standard Communities putting down $110 million to buy Commonwealth Apartments in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood and Greenleaf Apartments in southwest suburban Bolingbrook. Both complexes are rented to tenants aged 62 and older using Section 8 housing vouchers.

And a Greystone affiliate last year paid $40 million for the the 355-unit Montclare Senior Residences of Galewood property, which is reserved for people 55 and older who meet certain income requirements, in Chicago’s western Montclare neighborhood.