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Senior living development projects are still tough to pencil out in 2025. That hasn’t stopped Belmont Village from moving forward with new projects aimed at the industry’s next generation of residents.
The Houston, Texas-based senior living company has a handful of projects under construction and in pre-development in 2025, and it is steadily approaching the 40-community mark ahead of a new year with a portfolio of 35 operating communities and several more underway.
Projects include the recently opened Belmont Village San Ramon in San Ramon, California, which the operator developed in partnership with Sunset Development; and Belmont Village Aventura, a luxury community the operator is currently working on with Turnberry in South Florida.
The design, amenities and services of both communities exemplify the approach Belmont is taking with the incoming group of older adults, the baby boomers: lots of green space, bigger units, active amenities and high-end luxury. The company also is building more communities with designs meant to weather more extreme weather conditions in states like Florida and California.
No two Belmont communities are totally alike, but they are all linked in that the company seeks to give incoming residents something new that other communities in the area don’t offer.
“There is rhyme or reason to how we create the spaces to serve our residents,” Belmont Village CEO Patricia Will said during a fireside chat at the recent Senior Housing News BUILD conference in Dallas. “Having said that, all of our buildings are completely different.”
In 2025, many new-development projects still don’t pencil out at the rates they would need to succeed in their market. But Belmont Village is positioned at the high end of its markets and thus can still make the financial math work, Will said.
Although Belmont Village is a growing company with aspirations to grow large in the years to come, Will doesn’t have aspirations to make it the biggest. Instead, she wants the company to be the best in its market niche.
Belmont Village’s slow and steady growth
Belmont Village approaches every new project with patience and an eye for the future.
According to Will, one of the cornerstones of Belmont Village’s growth strategy is its relationships with lending partners. Also aiding the company is the fact that, on the equity side, companies are in 2025 more willing to partner on new projects than just one or two years ago.
“We don’t try to borrow 80 cents on the dollar,” Will said. “We have great equity partners, and they have stayed with us through every economic cycle. That helps enormously.”
Belmont Village is also a vertically integrated company with in-house development and market selection capabilities. It’s not uncommon for a Belmont investment officer to spend years looking for “land that’s not for sale to find a creative solution and a great location,” she added.
“We are able to raise the capital or have the capital committed in advance to go forward. Now, you can’t do that if you’re trying to do 15 things at once,” Will said. “So what we try to do – and have really since I founded Belmont – is find a few great sites that we’re very patient in getting, if that, per year.”
At the end of the day, projects come down to “whether or not the economics work,” Will said. And to that end, Belmont has an economic vision and plan for every community it undertakes.
“The combination of terrific experience on how to build a really world-class building with decent economics, and … the rate that we can charge for the value that we deliver enables us to continue safely underwriting new developments. So, we don’t stop.”
Looking down the road, Will believes that capital markets will be “more forgiving” with regard to the struggles of the previous few years, but not to a degree that allows for overbuilding.
“Construction costs … are at an all time high, interest is still a large factor. And then our industry is also seeing headwinds with respect to insurability,” she said. “Whether there are people at the other end of this who are willing to lend depends on whether it underwrites.”
New Belmont communities for a new generation
On stage at BUILD, Will — herself a baby boomer — said that she was still “trying to figure out” which of the operator’s communities she will ultimately move into when she’s ready for senior housing.
“Where am I going to live? I’ve actually thought about traveling from one community to the other and inflicting myself on multiple teams,” she joked.
Will’s personal journey mirrors that of millions of adults across the country. As the baby boomers grow older and start to consider a move into a senior living community, their needs and wants will shape how operators serve them.
To that end, Will believes that tomorrow’s seniors will desire communities with biophilic design that brings the outdoors inside, larger units and access to health care.
Belmont Coral Gables – a winner of a Senior Housing News Architecture and Design Award this year – showcases that philosophy in its design. The community includes a 6,000-square-foot promenade with ample greenery, creating an “urban oasis.”
The community also includes many two-bedroom units to meet rising demand for those units from prospective residents. Higher home prices, stock market gains and decades-old long-term care insurance plans have pushed tomorrow’s residents to consider larger spaces than the previous generation, Will said.
“In our latest round of lease-ups, no matter how many one and two bedroom units we offer, we are during the period of lease-up making more,” she said. “With those factors, at least in the markets where we’re building, people want larger.”
Belmont Coral Gables also exemplifies the future in that it includes a partnership with Baptist Health, South Florida’s largest health care system. The community includes access to preventative health services in its design with ground-floor primary care space, a pharmacy and a gym that doubles as a physical therapy hub.
“It doesn’t look like any medical space you’ve ever seen,” Will said. “We’ve got retail also on the ground floor, and we’re part of a beautiful, walkable, indoor-outdoor mall that’s adjacent to us with lots of restaurants and cafes.”
While Belmont Village takes its time with new projects, that doesn’t mean the company is overly rigid in its design. The operator studies its site plans for adjacencies and other spots where it could combine or expand units to flex with resident demand.
Will is a longtime senior living industry veteran who has weathered multiple real estate cycles. In the years ahead, she sees a “sweet spot” for senior living marked by high demand. While the senior living industry is undersupplied today given its demand runway ahead, Will is cautious not to repeat missteps of other real estate sectors such as commercial offices.
“The trick here is not to overbuild ourselves, like every asset class when the times get good,” she said. “We need to look at this very promising period for senior housing, but be somewhat circumspect and careful about what we create and why.”
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