JDI Realty drops $25M on hot senior housing market

Jeff Aeder’s JDI Realty has expanded its suburban real estate holdings with the purchase of a $24.5 million assisted living community in Lake Zurich.

The Chicago-based private equity firm partnered with Wolcott Group to purchase the Evolve at Lake Zurich, a 120-unit senior housing complex about an hour north of downtown, Crain’s reported. The property, at 795 North Rand Road, was sold by Pathway to Living, a senior housing operator under the control of Waterton, a prominent Chicago investment firm.

The price comes to $204,200 per unit.

The deal is part of the JDI’s strategy to capitalize on market opportunities created by the slowdown in construction and rising demand for senior living options, a sector poised for growth, said Adam Seidenberg, vice president of senior housing investments at JDI Realty.

“With the aging baby boomer population driving demand — what many call the ‘silver tsunami’ — and the slowdown in new construction, we see a unique chance to invest in well-located, high-quality communities,” he said.

The World Health Organization projects the number of people aged 80 and older to triple by 2050.

Financing for the acquisition included a $17.5 million loan from Old Second National Bank, according to Lake County property records. The deal is the latest in JDI’s history of real estate investments, which totals over $3 billion since 1988.

The firm recently invested $34 million to acquire 164 townhomes across Chicagoland. That deal worked out to $207,000 per unit. The firm also partnered with R2 Companies to purchase the Motorola Mobility campus in Libertyville from Beco Management for $35 million.

— Andrew Terrell