Continuum Advisors Announces Sale of Friendship Village
February 1, 2024
SCHAUMBURG, IL — Friendship Village, the largest senior-living campus in Illinois, has been sold according to a press release from Continuum Advisors. Spanning over 60 acres in this affluent Chicago suburb, Friendship Village offers 818 residences across a full continuum of care. The property was sold through a court-directed bankruptcy process, with a cash purchase price of approximately $35.6 million, plus other cash contributions including to former residents.
The community offers 512 independent-living apartments, 28 garden homes, 85 assisted-living units, 24 memory-care units, and 169 skilled-nursing beds. Friendship Village was built in phases starting in the late 1970s, with the most recent addition in 2007. In 2017, Friendship Village refinanced its debt obligations and funded campus renovations through a bond issuance. Beginning in January 2021, the not-for-profit borrower defaulted on its bond payments, largely attributed to the effects of COVID-19.
The team at Continuum Advisors, led by Dave Kliewer and Jay Jordan, initiated a marketing process which highlighted the ability for a buyer to restore the financial stability of Friendship Village and initiate a variety of repositioning opportunities. Continuum Advisors led a sale process through the bankruptcy court, which resulted in three parties submitting binding contracts for the Stalking Horse position. After the selection of the Stalking Horse and an overbid marketing process, a multi-round auction was completed in late October 2023, with Encore Healthcare Services emerging as the winning bidder at auction.
Encore Healthcare Services, which has renamed the community Encore Village Schaumburg, is planning to make significant capital investments into the campus in addition to transitioning Friendship Village from a majority entrance fee/life-plan community to a rental community. Existing residents with entrance fee contracts will be refunded part or all of their entrance fees in accordance with a length-of-stay schedule, and Encore has committed to provide $750,000 per year in benevolence care, among other benefits to legacy residents.
“Friendship Village is a high-quality campus which was in need of financial stability, a fresh approach to the business plan, and a capital infusion. Encore is an ideal fit for Friendship Village given their operational expertise and unique ability to execute a transaction of this size and complexity” stated Kliewer.