Courtesy Optima Living

Optima Living and joint venture partner Axium Infrastructure have acquired eight seniors’ supportive-living communities from H&H Total Care Services in Alberta and B.C. for more than $300 million.

The properties together are known as The Hamlets. Three are in Alberta — two in Red Deer and one in Airdrie — while the other five are in Kamloops, Surrey, Pentiction, Duncan and Vernon. The portfolio is comprised of 1,092 suites.

Vancouver-based Optima, which operates independent and assisted-living care facilities in Alberta and B.C. since 2006, will retain The Hamlets brand.

“Optima Living looks forward to bringing high-quality care and services to eight Hamlet seniors’ care communities in Alberta and B.C. and meaningfully engaging with all employees and residents,” said Karim Kassam, Optima’s co-founder and principal in a statement on the sale.

“We are grateful to the Van Ryk family for building a wonderful culture of engagement at The Hamlets communities and look forward to building on this tradition.”

Montreal-headquartered Axium Infrastructure is an independent portfolio management firm with offices in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K.

Newmark Group, Inc. served as the broker on behalf of Surrey-based and family-owned H & H Total Care Services.

“This strategic portfolio transaction provides the joint venture partnership with immediate scale and considerable market share of funded seniors housing residences in Western Canada,” said Mark Gallagher, Newmark’s (NMRK-Q) executive managing director in a statement on the sale.

With this sale the joint venture now stands at 18 care facilities in B.C. and Alberta.

Gallagher, along with Newmark’s managing director BJ Bhal and managing director Dave Kalinowsky, represented the seller in the transaction.

The portfolio

The portfolio includes a mix of assisted-living and independent-living suites along with funded long-term care and complex care beds and private pay complex care beds.

It has an average building age of 10 years, with three residences opened since 2019. In addition, three of the assets provide the new ownership with over 360 units of development and expansion opportunities.

Optima operates over 2,200 beds providing congregate living options for seniors.

As of the end of June, Axium had over $9 billion in assets under management as well as $1.7 billion in co-investments across over 250 North American infrastructure assets.

Newmark is a commercial real estate advisory and services firm headquartered in New York City but has approximately 170 offices with 6,500 employees around the world. In the last 12 months ending in June, the company generated $3.2 billion in revenue.

Newmark first expanded into the Canadian market with a Toronto office in 2009 and now also has offices in Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton.