Success Stories

A developer approached Eva with what seemed like a straightforward $6 million funding request for a 40-acre life plan community in upstate New York, featuring 197 independent living homes. However, this project represented a groundbreaking hybrid concept that would combine an assisted living facility with a manufactured housing community – a model so innovative that traditional lenders couldn't understand it, let alone finance it.

The developer had already invested $25 million of his own funds into site preparation, including DOT upgrades, soil mitigation, utility installations, and securing conditional site plan approval from the Town Planning Board. Yet despite this significant commitment and the project's advanced readiness, the unique business model posed seemingly insurmountable challenges.

Traditional Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs) typically require entrance fees of $600,000 to $1.2 million plus high monthly rents, with ALF care prepaid from escrowed entrance fees. This developer's vision was radically different: residents would own their manufactured homes and lease the lots for a lower overall investment ($400,000-$500,000), with ALF care supported by the home's value rather than an escrowed fee structure.

The challenge wasn't just the unconventional financing needs – it was finding partners who could grasp the innovation and see the massive potential beyond the initial $6 million request. Most lenders viewed this as 'too different' and couldn't envision how to structure financing for such a pioneering senior living model that defied traditional industry categories.

Eva received what appeared to be a routine $12 million funding request for a specialized foster care facility in rural Missouri – but the complexity beneath the surface was staggering. The client needed to transform an existing property worth $25 million 'as is' into a $55 million operational facility specifically designed to serve vulnerable foster care children.

This wasn't just about rehabilitation costs; the project required a sophisticated understanding of both the unique operational needs of foster care facilities and the intricate funding requirements that traditional lenders rarely encounter. The facility needed $2.4 million in rehabilitation work, $2 million in specialized furnishings and medical equipment, and most critically, $4.2 million in operating capital to ensure 12 months of stable operations during the vulnerable startup phase.

The rural location added another layer of complexity – while it served the community need, it also meant limited financing options and the necessity for specialized government programs that most brokers wouldn't even know existed. Beyond the immediate funding challenge, the project required navigating complex regulations around foster care facility operations, ensuring compliance with child welfare standards, and structuring the financing to account for the facility's social mission rather than pure profit motives.

The client needed not just money, but a partner who could understand that this facility would serve some of society's most vulnerable children and structure financing that would ensure long-term operational stability rather than just immediate development funding. Most lenders would see the rural location, specialized use case, and complex soft costs as red flags – Eva saw an opportunity to serve a critical community need.