Cherry Ridge

financing a new campus for the moderate income market

St. Ann’s of Greater Rochester, Inc. and its affiliates (“St. Ann’s”) own and operate 601 skilled nursing beds and 120 units of rental independent living on a single campus in Rochester, New York. In an effort to expand its mission and better serve the moderate income senior population of Rochester, St. Ann’s decided to develop a second campus in Webster, New York, approximately ten miles from the existing St. Ann’s location. The new campus, to be known as Cherry Ridge, will include 71 rental independent living apartments, 55 entrance fee cottages and 75 assisted living units, including 24 dedicated dementia units. The new campus will allow St. Ann’s to provide a moderately priced residential product to Rochester seniors and offer assisted living services for the first time, thereby further diversifying St. Ann’s continuum of care.

In order to serve the moderate income market, St. Ann’s needed Sims to design a very low cost, efficient financing. Sims’ solution included three simultaneous, tax-exempt variable rate bond offerings totaling $38.02 million. Subsequent to the bond closing, Sims placed a 10-year fixed rate swap for Cherry Ridge at 3.66%, bringing St. Ann’s annual cost of capital in at just below 4.35% for a start-up retirement community with limited credit support from the parent organization.

Bill Remizowski, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for St. Ann’s, with regard to Sims noted that, “Your expertise and leadership during our financing, including active involvement in project configuration, placement of bridge financing and negotiation and placement of the letters of credit provided St. Ann’s a steady hand on the wheel as we navigated a very complex financing process... The ultimate product was a cost effective financing that achieved St. Ann’s major goals – low cost financing with few restrictions or encumbrances on our existing entities."