In one of the nation's most cost-burdened housing markets, McDowell Housing Partners and Miami Jewish Health have opened Broward County's largest affordable senior living community, pairing 410 affordable homes with on-site healthcare designed to help older adults age in place.
The $139.4 million Douglas Gardens Senior Health and Living development in Pembroke Pines combines affordable housing for seniors 55 and older with a 15,000-square-foot medical center operated through Miami Jewish Health's Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). Located on the final 14 acres of the Miami Jewish Health campus, the project expands a larger affordable housing effort that now totals 726 units across multiple phases.
The development provides studio, one-, and two-bedroom residences for seniors 55 and older earning between 30% and 100% of the area median income. The development’s 100% accessible design also enhances its impact by ensuring mobility-impaired residents can safely navigate their homes and broader community.
Douglas Gardens Senior Health and Living has been selected as the winner of the seniors housing category in this year’s Readers’ Choice Awards.
According to Christopher Shear, president of McDowell Housing Partners, demand was high, with the property leasing within two months of completion.
“It was shocking frankly. It signifies the demand for high-quality affordable housing for seniors is really something to focus on for the years to come,” he says. “It was really eye opening to see how many seniors are facing potential homelessness.”
The PACE center provides comprehensive medical and social services to residents as well as qualifying seniors in the surrounding community. The service model extends beyond the PACE program with a wide range of wraparound services, such as adult daycare, rehabilitation, wellness programming, and assistance with daily living activities. The surrounding purpose-built senior campus also creates a continuum-of-care model, where residents can age in place while accessing progressively higher levels of care.
In addition, the development team leveraged a long-term ground lease with the state, coupled with a negotiated lessor note structure, to unlock the underlying land value. This approach allowed the development team to capitalize a portion of the ground lease obligation and incorporate it into the financing, reducing upfront capital requirements while preserving long-term site control on publicly owned land.
The team also structured a 30-year commercial for the PACE facility with Miami Jewish Health, which in turn subleases the space to its PACE operating entity. This provides a long-term revenue stream that was incorporated into the development’s underwriting and permanent debt sizing.
DEVELOPERS: McDowell Housing Partners and Douglas Gardens Senior Housing, an affiliate of Miami Jewish Health
ARCHITECT: Reprtwär
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: MHP-ANF Group Construction, a joint venture between MHP Builders, an affiliate of McDowell Housing Partners, and ANF Group
MAJOR FUNDERS: Florida Housing Finance Corp.; Broward County; Citi Community Capital; CREA