Practices

CCRC Financings and Workouts

The national financial crisis and tight credit markets have produced formidable challenges for the Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) industry. CCRCs nationwide are experiencing financial distress and a lack of financing alternatives. They and their lenders and investors need to find workable solutions and compromises, all within a framework of financial modeling and characteristics and state-specific requirements particular to the industry.

Ballard Spahr maintains a substantial CCRC financing practice. We have extensive experience as bank counsel, underwriter's counsel, and bond counsel for CCRC financings. We represent Bank of Scotland and KBC Bank, key players in providing letters of credit and construction loans to startup and established CCRCs. Other bank counsel clients in CCRC transactions include Wachovia Bank, PNC Bank, and TD Bank.

Increasingly, CCRC financing participants call on our attorneys to assist in default waivers, covenant modifications, and restructurings of CCRC financings. We have represented banks and other lenders in workouts and bankruptcies of CCRCs, including CCRCs under construction or recently completed but not yet stabilized.

In response to CCRC industry financial distress, Ballard Spahr has assembled a team of lawyers experienced in all facets of CCRC financings and workouts. We represent banks and other financial institutions acting as lenders and issuers of letters of credit and other credit facilities, investors, underwriters, bond trustees, master trustees, bondholders, CCRC owners, and other institutions involved in financing CCRCs.

Our CCRC Group includes attorneys experienced in all types of public and private, taxable and tax-exempt financings; interest rate swaps; bankruptcy and creditors' rights; and CCRC compliance matters, including nonprofit 501(c)(3) tax status and state licensure and regulation of CCRCs and their assisted living and nursing components. Our practice encompasses nonprofit and for-profit CCRCs and full life care and fee-for-service CCRCs. We are also experienced in financings and workouts of assisted living and nursing facilities.

Our strong client relationships are a source of pride. They are a direct result of our in-depth knowledge of the complex transaction structures and issues specific to the CCRC industry, including entrance fees and their role in financing startups. We identify and evaluate novel circumstances, putting matters in perspective and providing leadership in structuring solutions that work for our clients and the other parties.

Our attorneys reside in strategic locations nationwide and have participated in transactions throughout the country, particularly in the Mid-Atlantic region, Florida, and California, where CCRCs are numerous and their regulation is substantial.