I am looking at an old hotel. The hotel has not been operating for several years so the city is motivated to see something done with it. Two ideas I am looking into are converting it to low income housing or assisted living. I understand that there are a lot of tax credits one can receive for low income housing. Does anyone have experience with this? As far as assisted living, are there providers out there that will lease a facility or do most want to own their facility?
I've owned two board and care facilities. You have to conform to an avalanche of regulations. It's just shy of operating a hospital.
This is a niche industry. BTW, if this is a multistory project...really consider what you're doing.
I would lease the project to a professional operator, much like leasing retail space to Sears. Let the operator, who's familiar with all the regulations, deal with it, and you just collect a check.
Also, you need at least 30 units to attract a strong operator in my opinion. Anything smaller, doesn't allow sufficient amortization of the operating/management costs.
Did I mention this is a management intensive endeavor for whoever does this?
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