Discovery Management Group buys land for assisted-living facility

BUYER: Discovery Village at the Forum LLC (principals: Richard Hutchinson and Thomas Harrison), Bonita Springs
SELLER: Discovery Village Land Co. LLC
PRICE: $2.35 million

BUYER: Discovery Village Land Co. LLC (principals: Richard Hutchinson and Thomas Harrison), Bonita Springs
SELLER: Champion Development Corp.
PROPERTY: 2619 Forum Blvd., Fort Myers
PRICE: $2.35 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $32 million, December 2006 (contained additional parcels)

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Gray Robinson PA, Tampa

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Bonita Springs-based Discovery Management Group purchased 13 acres north of Colonial Boulevard for $2.35 million.

The price equated to $180,556 per acre.

Discovery Management Group, led by Richard Hutchinson, Thomas Harrison and Al Hoffman, plans to develop the first of several Discovery Village-branded assisted-living facilities.

Currently, the facility will feature 126 units: 66 assisted-living, 40 supervised independent living and 30 memory care units. The 116,000-square-foot development will include a wellness center, movie theater and two dining venues.

Naples-based DeAngelis Diamond Construction Inc. has been hired as the general contractor for the $25 million project, and Rick McCormack of Fort Myers's Gora McGahey designed the project.

Construction is scheduled to start this week.

“We closed on our funding last week so we are fully funded,” says Harrison, CEO of Discovery Management Group. “We did a penetration analysis and found that only 3% to 4% of the [assisted-living demand in the] market had been met. There is a huge opportunity there.”

Founded in 1994 as Aston Care Systems Inc., the Discovery Management Group precursor developed and operated the 2,000-unit Aston Gardens portfolio of senior-living communities in Florida until 2006 when it sold them to a joint venture of GE and Sunrise Senior Living. In 2009, the firm repurchased its interest in the communities from Sunrise Senior Living and has been operating them ever since.

“We bought them back for something less than what we sold them for, something like 15 cents on the dollar,” Harrison says. “It took about three years to turn them around. Since that time Richard [Hutchinson] and I have started planning for a new product type Discovery Village. We knew it needed to be need based, which was driven by several things including financing.”

Harrison says the company has secured other properties for future Discovery Villages in Naples, Bradenton, West Palm Beach, Orlando and Tampa. The company expects to have eight to 10 communities operating in the next two to three years.
The purchase entity Discovery Village at the Forum LLC mortgaged the property to Community & South Bank for $18.6 million and to Discovery Village Funding LLC for $3.1 million.