Gold Standard of Care pays $14M for assisted living facility in West Palm

Tennessee REIT National Health Investors sold the property

Ricki Kaneti, Founder, Colonial Assisted Living Management (CALM); Michael Verbitsky, CEO, Gold Standard of Care; 2090 North Congress Avenue, West Palm Beach, FL (Gold Standard of Care, CALM)
Ricki Kaneti, Founder, Colonial Assisted Living Management (CALM); Michael Verbitsky, CEO, Gold Standard of Care; 2090 North Congress Avenue, West Palm Beach, FL (Gold Standard of Care, CALM)

Gold Standard of Care bought an assisted living and nursing home facility in West Palm Beach for $14 million, marking the continuing strength of senior healthcare real estate in Florida.

The firm, based in Fort Lauderdale, bought the property at 2090 North Congress Avenue from the real estate investment trust National Health Investors, Gold Standard’s Michael Verbitsky said.

The single building has 144 units. The majority of units, or 114, make up the ALF named Colonial Assisted Living of Palm Beach, and the remaining 30 are the nursing home named Colonial Skilled Nursing Facility, according to Verbitsky. The building is roughly 90 percent occupied.

That purchase breaks down to more than $97,000 per unit.

The new monikers, which changed the property’s name from Savannah Court of The Palm Beaches, are a nod to the buyer’s Colonial Assisted Living Management division that runs and provides the medical care for Gold Standard’s senior healthcare facilities. Ricki Kaneti is the founder of Colonial.

The building was constructed in 1995 on 3.9 acres, property records show. National Health Investors bought the West Palm Beach facility for $11.8 million in 1996, a deed shows.

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Gold Standard plans roughly $3 million in capital improvements, Verbitsky said.

Gold Standard, founded in 2008, focuses its portfolio on buying underperforming assets and bringing up their value, and it also builds new facilities, according to its website. This is its eight South Florida property.

In 2019, Gold Standard sold a Lake Worth Beach senior housing property for $6.2 million.

National Health Investors, led by Eric Mendelsohn, is publicly traded and focuses on investments, sale-leasebacks and financing ventures for senior healthcare facilities, according to its website. Its portfolio consists of independent-, assisted- and memory care communities; skilled nursing facilities; medical offices; specialized hospitals; and entrance-fee communities. NIH is based in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Senior housing has enjoyed healthy investor demand in light of the Sunshine State being a magnet for retirees.

In May, New York-based global investment manager Fortress Investment Group bought four South Florida facilities from Healthpeak Properties. First, it scooped up a Coconut Creek ALF for $11.9 million. It then bought three assisted, independent and memory care homes for $29.3 million. One of the facilities is in Boynton Beach, another near Delray Beach and the third near Boca Raton.