7-15-2024 9:20am

INSIDE THE NEWEST

Brightview Senior Living Spins Up New $200M Fund, Continuing Development Push

With its 47th community now open, Brightview Senior Living is plotting its next growth chapter, including by spinning up its next fund with a target of over $200 million.

The Baltimore-based company in June opened its newest community, Brightview Hunt Valley, in Maryland’s Baltimore County. The 179-unit community offers independent living, assisted living and memory care, with amenities including a juice bar and private dining options, beauty salon, fitness rooms, art studio, library, movie theater and two pubs.

Other amenities include outdoor courtyards with art displays, a fountain and gathering spaces and a rooftop deck for outdoor events such as concerts and barbecues. The community also has a 34-unit dementia wing under Brightview’s Wellspring Village banner, with amenities such as tavern, multiple living rooms and dining venues and a country kitchen for cooking demonstrations.

The opening was part of Brightview’s “methodical, measured approach to our development growth,” CEO and President Doug Dollenberg Jr. told Senior Housing News.

“Because we have strong brand awareness in Maryland, this community was highly anticipated for its in-demand location,” he said. “On opening day, the community was almost 50% pre-leased, which is a testament to our reputation.”

Brightview has funded its growth over the years through a series of private fundraising. The company is currently building using proceeds from its previous fund, Fund VIII. That fund netted $202 million in contributions from 363 investors last year, effectively financing the construction of eight communities through 2026.

Brightview is now gearing up for its ninth fund, known internally as Fund IX, with a target of more than $200 million.

“Fund IX will be a continuation of our private fund strategy to develop new communities, which is consistent with the way we’ve funded our growth since the first Brightview opened 25 years ago,” Dollenberg said.

Looking ahead, Brightview has a plan to open up to four communities a year, with a “strong development pipeline that stretches through the next five-plus years,” Dollenberg said.

But getting there hasn’t been without its challenges. Like many other operators in senior living, Brightview has grappled with higher expenses, “which grew at an unusually high rate both during and after the pandemic,” Dollenberg said.

“The communities found creative ways to control some of the larger expenses that were impacting our margins, such as eliminating pricey agency staffing,” he said. “That approach was a win-win for the residents and associates, since associates who are trained in Brightview’s high operational standards will always provide better care and service.”

Development itself has also been a challenge for many operators, particularly with regard to getting new financing for projects. But with its private-fund growth strategy, Brightview has been able to continue to grow through ground-up development, with four communities currently under construction and two more set to put shovels in the ground later this year.

“That pace is consistent with our long-standing growth strategy of opening two to four new communities each year,” Dollenberg said.

All told, the company has opened eight buildings since the start of the pandemic.

“The three communities we opened in 2021 in Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey were very strong openings which proved to us that the pandemic didn’t dampen the consumers’ enthusiasm for quality senior living,” Dollenberg added.