$34 M Bond Refinances South Carolina Senior Care Centers, Covers Further Expansion

By Eliza Theiss, Associate Editor

Lutheran Homes of South Carolina Inc., a faith-based, not-for-profit adult care and services organization, has secured a $34.45 million bond financing after collaborating with the South Carolina Jobs-Economic Development Authority (JEDA). The health facilities revenue bonds secured by the Irmo, S.C.-based organization will cover the costs of developing a new adult care facility and will also refinance Lutheran Homes’ existing projects. The financing will also allow Lutheran Homes to retain 1,108 jobs and to hire a further 29 employees within a year and 46 within two years’ time. The Series 2013 tax-exempt, low-rate financing is Lutheran homes’ second bond financing collaboration with JEDA in recent years.

“Lutheran Homes has been able to lower its costs on earlier work and more efficiently pay for new projects as a result of this innovative tax-advantaged financing option,” says Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A. bond counsel Kathy McKinney.

The new facility broke ground in late August at Lutheran Homes’ Rice Estate location in Columbia. The $14 million development will expand the community with a 44-bed skilled nursing and rehabilitation center. Part of the bond will be used to refinance the 113-bed Rice Estate, which already features a 36-bed skilled nursing and rehab center comprised of private, semi-private and companion rooms. The community also features 14 memory care beds and 35 assisted living beds in private suites. Independent living is also available at the Columbia senior care center in 30 one- and two-bedroom apartments ranging between 542 to 927 square feet.

The newly secured financing will also cover renovations at another Lutheran Homes location: Heritage at Lowman. The facility, located in White Rock, S.C. features 60 one-, two- and three-bedroom independent living units in apartment or garden homes that range between 970 and 2,323 square feet, as well as a multitude of enhanced independent living apartment units. A 176-bed skilled nursing and rehab center and a 48-bed memory care facility are also located Heritage and will be refinanced using the newly-secured bonds. Amenities at Lowman include a fitness center with senior-specific equipment, indoor pool, whirlpool, library, beauty/barber salon, chapel, gallery and onsite restaurant.

The bond will also refinance a 355-unit continuing care retirement community at Franke at Seaside in Mount Pleasant, S.C., and a 77-unit independent and assisted living community at Trinity on Laurens in Aiken, S.C.

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