Brookside and Green Mountain Nursing Homes
White River Jct. & Colchester, Vermont; 140-Bed Skilled Nursing Care

Background

These two Vermont skilled nursing facilities had been family-run for two generations. The second generation was looking to retire and put the properties on the market. The buyer came to Rockhall for acquisition financing through FHA.

The Challenge

One of the nursing homes was a converted farm house with a HUD-financed addition dating back to the 1980’s. The other home was an adaptive reuse of a military hospital built in the 1800’s with ward-type rooms. One of the homes had an abandoned underground storage tank. Processing for the CON for the prospective new owners took well over a year.

Outcome

Because the state of Vermont has had a moratorium on new nursing home construction for so many years, even outdated facilities such as Green Mountain and Brookside are in high demand from Medicaid-eligible residents. For that reason, the ward-type beds and outdated facilities were not seen as being problematic. Processing for the CON took so much time that the current owners were able to complete the removal of the abandoned UST’s. Rockhall was able to obtain firm commitments for FHA mortgage insurance months before the Vermont Green Mountain Board approved the transfer of the homes. The transactions successfully closed.

Rockhall utilized FHA insured financing to pay off all existing debt plus substantial cash-out.  The refinance reduced the note rate to 3.90% and locked in a 35-year fixed rate ensuring the long-term economic viability of the project.