Developer bets on seniors in the city with luxury assisted living tower on the Upper West Side

Betting that well-heeled seniors want to stay in the city as they age–and are willing to pay accordingly–developers Welltower, Inc. and Hines have purchased a pair of Manhattan building lots with the intent of building an assisted living tower for frail and memory-challenged seniors who want to stay in the neighborhood. Rising on two lots at 2330 Broadway at 85th Street will be the partnership’s second luxury assisted living facility in the borough, Bloomberg reports. The 17-story residence will offer a spa, a rooftop garden and a “bistro” for cocktails and card games.

Welltower, Inc. is the nation’s second largest publicly traded senior housing landlord. The new building will contain 162 assisted-living units; half of those will be set aside for residents with Alzheimer’s Disease or other memory impairments.

As 6sqft previously reported, Hines and Welltower are building another assisted-living residence, a 130,000-square-foot, 16-story building called Sunrise, on East 56th Street. The developers are betting that a growing number of seniors will want to remain in New York City though they are no longer able to live independently.

The monthly cost of living for residents would depend on the level of care they were receiving. At the East Side project, it was estimated that monthly rents could be around $20,000–which may actually compare favorably with the cost of round-the-clock home health care. Welltower Chief Executive Officer Thomas DeRosa said “You could spend anywhere between $22,000 and $36,000 a month to have three shifts, seven days a week. You’ll save money moving into one of these buildings.”

The two projects are not unique: Investors have their eye on the shifting baby boomer demographic entering their 70s and 80s–specifically those with a luxury budget. Maplewood Senior Living and Omega Healthcare Investors Inc. are working on a 23-story project on the Upper East Side that will offer farm-to-table dining, a spa and a movie theater.

Hudson Yards developer Related Cos. plans to build $3 billion worth of luxury senior high-rises over the next five years in the same big-ticket city neighborhoods as its current crop of rental and condo buildings. Next year, they’ll begin construction on a senior housing project in Manhattan and one in San Francisco in partnership with Atria Senior Living.

Hines, Welltower and a third–undisclosed–investor have equity stakes in the new West Side project. Demolition of the currently-vacant properties is expected in the first half of 2019.

[Via Bloomberg]

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