Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, LLC (“Harrison Street”), a Chicago based real estate private equity firm, and The Engel Burman Group have entered into a joint purchase and sale agreement with Chartwell Seniors Housing REIT (“Chartwell”) and ING Real Estate Australia Pty (“ING”) to acquire six Bristal assisted living communities consisting of 937 beds, located throughout Nassau County, including one in East Meadow.
Engel Burman originally founded the Bristal Assisted Living brand in 1999 as a privately owned business. The six communities in contract are properties that Engel Burman built, managed and owned between 1999 and 2007, prior to selling them to the Chartwell and ING.
Since that sale, Engel Burman has continued to successfully manage the properties and will continue to manage the communities on an ongoing basis for the Harrison/Engel Burman joint venture post-closing.
Further, Engel Burman opened a seventh Bristal Assisted Living community in East Northport in 2011. This community is approaching stabilization and will be part of the joint venture with Harrison Street Real Estate Capital. In addition, Engel Burman is currently constructing three additional communities, two in Westchester and one in Bergen County, NJ.
Engel Burman also controls approximately six parcels of land which are in various stages of development and are expected to break ground within the next one to two years. Harrison Street and Engel Burman plan to double the size of the Bristal portfolio by 2014 and continue to grow the number of communities throughout the tri-state region thereafter.
“This strategically situates our company for future regional growth utilizing the platform we created in the late 1990’s," Engel Burman President Jan Burman said. "Owning these assets once again while aligning ourselves with a strong institutional partner who shares our vision for growth ensures that The Bristal will remain the benchmark for excellence in assisted living.”
“During the past decade, Engel Burman has demonstrated its ability to grow a best-in-class assisted living platform," Harrison Street Principal Michael Gordon added. "They have the proven capability to develop, lease and operate senior housing assets, which is no small feat in the complex Long Island submarkets. The Bristal brand benefits from an unparalleled reputation throughout Suffolk and Nassau Counties, and our partnership plans to expand this portfolio across the New York metro area. Our decision to partner with Engel Burman reflects our confidence in their expertise, their past track record and their projections for the future.”
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