Spanish Senior Living REIT buys Ciudad Patricia Senior Resort in Benidorm

Azora Capital enters the independent senior housing purchasing the most accomplished retirement village in Spain.

Volker Wessels’ subsidiary in Spain, Credo Real Estate Development España, S.L. has agreed a sale & management–back of Ciudad Patricia Senior Resort with Adriano Care SOCIMI (BME: YADR), the listed real estate investment trust specializing in senior living assets managed by Azora Capital. The sellers have been advised by Cushman & Wakefield and AAMC Abogados, while the buyer has been advised by Cuatrecasas as legal advisors, KPMG as tax and urban planning advisors and Almar as technical consultants.

With this c. €30M investment, the SOCIMI, which is listed on the BME Growth stock exchange since May 25, 2021, incorporates in its portfolio 176 apartments for seniors distributed in 5 buildings with a central building with restaurant and services, a building with indoor swimming pool and atelier, as well as a plot with license for a new building of 18 apartments. As part of the transaction, the former owners have entered into a management agreement for the REIT.

Developed by the Basque group Construcciones Sarez S.A. in 1983, Ciudad Patricia Senior Resort is the first «Integrated Retirement Community» in Spain, a residential format which is characterized for offering the elements that retirees demand most in their daily lives: restaurants, bars, cafeterias, socializing areas and being close to an urban area – in this case integrated in the sea side town of Benidorm – and at the same time enjoying privacy as it is built on an estate of more than 78,000m² surrounded by the majestic natural park of the Serra Gelada.

The resort shares space with the Spanish Ministry of Defense (ISFAS), which provides four buildings (and 175 apartments) to its retirees. The central building acquired by Azora includes a hairdressing and massage salon, as well as a games room, library, lounge, theater, restaurant, bar and terrace.

Alicante thus consolidates its position as the province that has attracted the most institutional investors to its «retirement living» sector following the acquisition by the French SCPI, Pierval Santé of the residence managed by Evangelisches Johanneswerk in La Nucia and the sale & leaseback signed between Care Property Invest and Forum Mare Nostrum in Alfaz del Pi.

In this sense, the Costa Blanca benefits from having a long history as a popular destination for European retirees being today the third province with the largest community of foreigners after Madrid or Barcelona with almost 400,000 people (INE, 2021) and being home to about a quarter of the expatriate community from EU15 countries, Switzerland and Norway currently living in Spain.