An $8.85 million bridge loan to an assisted living community is commercial real estate lender Hunt Mortgage Group’s first loan in the healthcare sector. The loan was made through the company’s Proprietary Loan Group, a new balance sheet lending platform launched earlier this year.

The loan, which has a term of 24 months with an option for a 12-month extension, will refinance Autumn Leaves of Rockwall, an assisted living community in Rockwall, TX. The borrower is Rockwall Memory Care, and the parent company is the LaSalle Group of Irving, TX.

“Autumn Leaves of Rockwall opened in December 2011 as a dementia assisted living facility, quickly leased to stabilization in mid-2013, but took a dip in 2014 after a new competitor opened in the same market,” said James Neil, director of healthcare lending at Hunt Mortgage Group. “In 2015, LaSalle successfully regained market share, and the subject occupancy has rebounded. As of mid-summer, occupancy reached 91%, and management is projecting stabilization shortly. Pretty remarkable.”

Neil said the community plans to “take the loan to HUD prior to maturity of the bridge loan.”

The LaSalle Group has 27 existing communities and 15 under construction.