ST. PETERSBURG, Fla — Ziegler has arranged $29.4 million in bond financing for Convivial St. Petersburg LLC, which plans to develop a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) on a 5.2-acre site in St. Petersburg.
The Series 2024 Revenue Bond Anticipation Notes are comprised of $23.4 million of tax-exempt Series 2024A Notes sold publicly to institutional investors, and $6 million of subordinate tax-exempt and taxable notes purchased by an affiliate of the developer and manager of the project.
The borrower will use the proceeds of the revenue bond anticipation notes to fund the land acquisition, certain pre-development expenditures and marketing costs of the CCRC.
Convivial Life Inc., which serves as the sole member of the borrower Convivial St. Petersburg, is a Florida not-for-profit corporation organized in 2021.
The CCRC, which will be known as Convivial St. Petersburg, will consist of two residential buildings comprised of 170 independent living units, 48 assisted living/memory support units as well as common areas and administrative and support spaces.
The development will feature a variety of resort-style amenities, including a member’s club floor with multiple dining venues and a rooftop sky deck providing various amenities with views of the surrounding coastal waterways of Boca Ciega Bay.
Residents who pay an entrance fee and enter into a continuing care agreement will have priority access to licensed nursing care with the CCRC off-site preferred provider.
The borrower selected LifeStar Development St. Petersburg LLC to serve as the development consultant for the project. In that role, LifeStar will manage and coordinate the planning, design, construction and completion of the CCRC. In addition, under the development agreement, LifeStar will serve as the marketing consultant for the community.
Upon completion of the development, the borrower anticipates an affiliate of LifeStar will be engaged to provide management services for the CCRC. Affiliates of LifeStar currently provide management services to The Cabana at Jensen Dunes in Jensen Beach and Jacaranda Trace in Venice, both of which are Florida senior living communities and affiliates of Convivial.
Rich Scanlon, senior managing director of senior living finance at Chicago-based Ziegler, a specialty investment bank, says that being able to arrange the financing on behalf of Convivial for this development meant a lot to him personally.
“As a long-term resident of St. Petersburg, [I believe] this is an exciting project in a dynamic primary market area that is well needed as there has not been any new not-for-profit life plan community developed in St. Petersburg in over 30 years,” Scanlon points out.
“Although this is the first new campus for Convivial and LifeStar, they each bring attributes to the transaction that other newly created not-for-profit corporations and developers cannot provide. One of the most appealing credit points of this transaction was the fact that LifeStar had already received 30 deposits for the independent living units, whereas most other new campuses where the pre-construction costs are financed with bond anticipate notes have not even started pre-sales yet. I will be following this project closely and, who knows, I may be a second or third generation resident,” adds Scanlon.
Construction of the CCRC is expected to begin in February 2026. The target date for completion is March 2028.