Denver Senior Living Communities Sell to Morgan Stanley

Banking giant Morgan Stanley showed bullishness on Denver-area senior housing, dropping $305 million on portfolio transactions recently.

Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing acquired three suburban properties from Kayne Anderson Real Estate, Bisnow reported. Denver-based senior housing operator MorningStar will continue to operate the communities, which consist of 463 units.

The price amounts to almost $659,000 per unit.

The sale included Senior Living at RidgeGate, at 10100 Commons Lane in Lone Tree, which traded hands for nearly $105.8 million, the Denver Business Journal reported.

That property was built in 2015 and has 224 units on 5 acres with independent living, assisted living and memory care portions. Amenities include an art studio, fitness center and saline swimming pool.

Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing began buying senior living properties three years ago, and in the time since then, the Morgan Stanley subsidiary’s collection has grown to 30 communities across the country consisting of nearly 3,000 units. As the nationwide population grows older, with more baby boomers aging into these developments’ target demographic, so too has demand for such housing.

The number of residents over 65 in Colorado is expected to increase by nearly 30 percent by 2035, according to the Colorado Fiscal Institute. By contrast, the working-age population between ages 19 and 65 is expected to grow about 12 percent.

Demand for senior housing is on track to outpace supply by more than 300,000 units across the country within the next five years, per National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care data cited by Bisnow.

Kayne Anderson is making a big bet on the asset class and has raised $2.5 billion for investments in the senior housing sector.

Denver has senior housing developments underway such as NexCore Group’s The Reserve at Cherry Creek and Koelbel & Company’s Forte at RidgeGate.

— Chris Malone Méndez