Skokie-based private equity firm Cascade Capital Group is the latest to sell off facilities geared toward seniors in the Chicago area, amid an uptick of activity.
Cascade sold The Grove at Evanston at 500 Asbury Avenue in Evanston for $16.8 million and The Grove at The Lake at 2534 Elim Avenue in Zion near the Wisconsin border for $16.1 million, public records show. Both properties operate as post-hospital rehabilitation centers that offer outpatient services and long-term stays.
Health care executive Ariel Gutnicki, also based in Skokie, bought the properties and rebranded them to Alpine Care of Evanston and Alpine Care of Zion, according to public records and a LinkedIn post. The two properties are the first under Ariel Gutnicki’s new company, Alpine Healthcare, which he founded this year, according to his LinkedIn.
He previously worked for Pearl Healthcare and Legacy Healthcare, which also run rehabilitation and skilled nursing facilities throughout the Chicago area and the Midwest.
It’s unclear if Cascade turned a profit on the two properties, which it has owned for over 10 years, according to public records. Each was last financed in the past 10 years for over $18 million.
Representatives of Cascade and Alpine Healthcare did not respond to requests for comment.
The sales come on the heels of several senior living facility sales in the past month in the Chicago area. Four communities traded for a total of $217 million, demonstrating the strength of the sector, with three of the four sales at a markup from their prior sale price.
The largest transaction involved Des Moines-based LCS Senior Living selling the 156-unit Clarendale of Mokena to Inland Real Estate Group for $72 million. CMBS loan tracking data showed that the property was performing well before the deal, and expected growth in demand from the aging baby boomer generation likely supported the sale as well.
Other deals included Town Lake’s $65 million purchase of Sheridan at Green Oaks, and a $30 million sale by Ventas for a property being converted to apartments.
But medical-adjacent deals can come with their own challenges.
Blackstone sold its Lake Barrington Woods facility for $50 million, which represented a 30 percent discount from its prior purchase price in 2017.
And a portfolio of medical offices and safety net hospitals in Chicago and west suburban River Forest are stuck in limbo as investors battle over a total of $89 million in unpaid debt, a lawsuit filed in December shows.
Resilience Healthcare allegedly defaulted on the $67 million loan note, leading to a lawsuit by former Pipeline Health affiliates, which claim they bought the properties back via credit bid after the default. Among the properties, Weiss Memorial Hospital was shut down by Resilience after its Medicaid reimbursement was terminated due to compliance issues. The remaining property, West Suburban Hospital, is in a precarious financial situation, according to legal filings.