A joint venture involving an established retirement home developer and a private equity firm has two continuing retirement villages currently in pre-development. The joint venture has plans to develop a third facility. Funding in the continuing care retirement communities or retirement home sector has been tight for the past few months.

LCS-Westminster, a partnership between LCS and The Westminster Fund, however, isn't hesitant to position its capital behind the ventures. Their latest project, Trillium Woods in Plymouth, Minnesotta, is currently under development. The first stage of development will have an approximated US$160 million price tag.

"We're very active and very busy," says according to Patrick Hunt, president of The Westminster Fund.  The Westminster Fund, at present, sponsors ten investment funds, two of them are aimed on continuing care retirement communities acquisitions and development.

"What we're seeing is that a number of providers have stepped back and are taking a breather. They're letting properties that have come to the market stabilize. There hasn't been very many new properties brought to market, and what we're continuing to see is repositionings of existing product and expansions.," said the vice president at LCS, David Laffey.