Moorings buys Grand Lake's first phase

In one of the largest multifamily transactions in Southwest Florida over the past year, Moorings Inc. has acquired the first phase of its newly opened luxury senior housing community, in Naples, for $80.38 million.

The senior housing operator bought the trio of seven-story buildings at Moorings Park Grande Lake from joint venture partner LB Naples Grande LLC, an entity controlled by London Bay Development Group, Collier County property records show.

The mid-April purchase came as residents began moving into the 47 independent residential units in the first phase of the 7330 Premier Drive community. Suffolk Construction began work on the residences 18 months ago.

“The level of quality for the residents in this community is very, very high, with an amenity package that’s parallel to any of the best country clubs in the Naples area,” says Mark Wilson, the CEO of London Bay Development and the affiliated London Bay Homes.

“And knowing that Grande Lake will provide health care to residents on site, and with Moorings Park as the gold-standard in the industry, I think coming out of the shutdown there will be compelling reasons for interest. We’re still very confident in the future of this project.”

LB Naples Grande acquired the property for Grande Lake in June 2016 for $33 million, records show.

London Bay is currently building a pair of additional residential buildings in Grande Lake and a clubhouse that will comprise the project’s second phase, says Dan Lavender, Moorings Park’s CEO. The clubhouse is slated for completion next year and will contain a concierge physician practice along with other amenities.

Roughly half the units in Grande Lake’s phase two have been sold, he says. In all, Grande Lake is expected to contain 16 buildings when it achieves build-out sometime in the next five years, Wilson says.

“We’ve been blown away by the level of interest, even with the virus,” says Lavender. “We talk a lot about how to maintain our premier status, not just how to get to premier status. We’re continually retooling and upgrading. The culture of studying here is very important to us.”

Moorings Park, which operates a pair of upscale, senior living continuing care retirement communities (CCRC) in Naples, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Lavender says the decision to move forward with London Bay stemmed, in part, because its other two campuses were sold out and maintained long waiting lists for new residents.

Last year, the company’s two campuses received the International Council of Active Aging’s Pinnacle Award for the top wellness-oriented community in the U.S.