HJ Sims Market Commentary: All is Calm, All is Bright?

HJ Sims Logo

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen appeared on 60 Minutes this past Sunday to present her views on the state of the U.S. economy, the risk of recession and the widespread costs of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Ending that war, she contended, would be the single best thing we can do for the global economy but, until then, the U.S. will continue to fund Ukraine for “as long as it takes”. As for America, the nation’s 78th Secretary presented a rather rosy outlook for the coming year, one in which, absent an unanticipated shock, inflation will be “much lower”.

Continue reading

HJ Sims Market Commentary: Georgia On My Mind

HJ Sims Logo

On Rolling Stone’s list of the greatest songs of all times, the Ray Charles version of “Georgia on My Mind” ranks as number 44. The soul singer known as Brother Ray was in fact a native of Georgia, born in 1930, the same year that Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell penned the lyrics. He recorded the classic tune thirty years later on his album The Genius Hits the Road and, in 1979, his rendition became the official state song of Georgia. The Peach State was the last of the original thirteen American colonies to be founded, the fourth state to enter the Union in 1788, the fifth to secede in 1861, and the last to be readmitted in 1870. This week, it is on the mind of millions of people around the world — not for its role as host of the Masters Tournament, or as the birthplace of the civil rights movement, the home of former president Jimmy Carter and baseball legend Ty Cobb — but in the political battle for a U.S. Senate seat and momentum going into the next cycle.

Continue reading

HJ Sims Market Commentary: Kickoff

HJ Sims Logo

The global population climbed to 8 billion people on Tuesday, November 15, according to the United Nations, up from 5.3 billion in 1990. More than half of us — an estimated 5 billion — from every nation, ethnicity, faith, age range, income level and occupation will watch some or most of the FIFA World Cup games during the 29 days of competition underway in Qatar. Not billions but millions of people around the world also tune in to the monthly press conferences held by Jerome Powell, the head of the U.S. central bank. These events are shorter in duration and much less exciting than the World Cup games but produce just as much if not more wagering.

Continue reading

The 20th Annual HJ Sims Late Winter Conference

Financing Methods and Operating Strategies for Charter Schools and Senior Living

Our 20th Annual HJ Sims Late Winter Conference will examine trends and developments critical to the success of charter schools and senior living communities. An extensive and thoughtful agenda, with dual education tracks for charter schools and senior living, has been compiled to address financing methods, operating strategies and technological advancements that can help alleviate existing challenges and encourage continued growth in the non-profit and proprietary sectors of our industry. Throughout the conference, we will deliver a dynamic group of speakers and experts committed to sharing thought-provoking views and providing profound insight.

Our series of keynote speakers, breakout sessions, panels and roundtables will deliver an invaluable forum for exchanging ideas and information, while also providing unique networking opportunities. The objective of the Late Winter Conference is for industry participants to learn and discuss each other’s strategies and solutions for success. Check the registration webpage for details regarding CEU and CPE credits for our education sessions during the conference. As always, we will plan to offer both, pending approvals. 

For conference attendance, follow our Safety Protocol.

2023 Late Winter Conference: Registration Open

Please visit the conference webpage for all details, including hotel registration.

For more information, please contact Kerry Moynihan.

HJ Sims Market Commentary: Red, White, Black and Blue Confetti

HJ Sims Logo

The 2024 presidential campaign season is off to a start already with Tuesday’s announcement by former president Donald J. Trump. The launch of his third bid for the Oval Office came just one week after the mid-term elections flipped the U.S. House to Republican rule by a slim margin but left the Senate under Democratic control, likely reliant once again upon Vice President Harris to cast tie-breaking votes depending on the outcome of the December 6 runoff in Georgia.

Continue reading

HJ Sims Market Commentary: Numbers Count

HJ Sims Logo

More than 18 million veterans who have served our country in the active military, naval or air service will be honored this week at parades, dinners, award ceremonies and other events commemorating their sacrifice and service. A grateful nation pauses once a year to thank all those who have defended our many freedoms — including the one we just exercised with spirit this week. An estimated 42 million early ballots were cast in the midterm elections and, by the time all the tallies are final, this could be the second midterm in a row where voters exceeded 100 million.

Continue reading

HJ Sims Market Commentary: Cracking the Code

HJ Sims Logo

Codes are, of course, absolutely critical to communication during times of war and, in modern military history, one that was never broken remains famous to this day. During World War II, Japanese cryptographers intercepted but were never able to decipher the messages sent by the U.S. Marine Navaho Code Talkers. The code was developed at Camp Elliott in San Diego in May 1942 by a small group of 29 Navajo men, some as young as 15, based on the complex, unwritten, verb-based Navaho (Diné) language. Although far from Window Rock, the Navajo Nation Capital, central bankers around the world have developed their own cryptic language that traders and investors struggle to decipher.

Continue reading

HJ Sims Market Commentary: Carving Up the Markets

HJ Sims Logo

In one old Irish folktale, one night on All Hallows’ Eve, Stingy Jack was quenching his thirst at a pub when he ran out of money to pay his tab. The Devil, seeing an opportunity, suddenly appeared. But wily Jack managed to turn the tables and trap the Devil not once but twice. The price for the Devil’s release was that he would leave Jack alone and never ever lay claim to his soul. When he died, he was sentenced to roam the earth for eternity with nothing more than a lantern made from a carved-out turnip to light his way. Folks terrified by the prospect of the wandering soul that came to be known as Jack O’Lantern, began carving scary faces out of turnips, potatoes and mangelwurzels, placing them in windows or near entryways to scare him away. Irish immigrants brought the practice to America, the world’s eighth largest pumpkin grower, and soon every October called for us to start carving jack-o-lanterns out of this plump, orange, easily carve-able fruit. Pumpkins go hand in hand with Halloween and Thanksgiving, and both holidays draw near. It is the season of plenty — plenty of inflation in food, bond yields, fund outflows, bearishness and fear of missing out

Continue reading

An Exclusive Investment Opportunity: The Dogwoods @ Long Ridge Project

HJ Sims Logo

**This financing has been successfully closed. Please contact your advisor for any potential secondary market opportunities.**

$32,340,000*
THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF STAMFORD (CT)

Bond Anticipation Note Issue (BANs), Series 2022
(The Dogwoods @ Long Ridge Project)

HJ Sims is pleased to serve as sole underwriter for TJH Senior Living, LLC, an affiliate of The Jewish Home for the Elderly of Fairfield County, Inc. d/b/a Jewish Senior Services (JSS), an organization with approximately 50 years experience providing senior care to Connecticut residents. The Jewish Home for the Elderly provides a full range of services on The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Campus in Bridgeport, CT, which includes a 294-bed skilled nursing facility and 32-bed assisted living and memory care as the only household model community in the State of Connecticut. It currently has a 5-star rating from The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

TJH Senior Living, LLC is planning to develop, own, and operate a continuing care retirement community (a “CCRC”) on 15 acres of land in Stamford, Connecticut currently planned to consist of 168 independent living units, 14 assisted living units, 14 memory care units, and 14 skilled nursing beds, as well as common and administrative and support areas to be known as The Dogwoods @ Long Ridge. The community amenity space will include multiple dining venues, bar, bistro, a fitness center, a yoga studio, a salon, physical therapy gym, a wellness center, theatre, and various multipurpose rooms.

The community will be a Type A Entrance Fee Life Plan Community offering both refundable and amortizing Entrance Fee plans to prospective residents. Residents will also pay a Monthly Service Fee which will be used to fund the operations of the community, including food service, facilities maintenance, housekeeping, management, utility costs, and debt service. The amount of the Entrance Fee and Monthly Service Fee will vary based on the type and location of the Independent Living Unit.

The BANs will be secured by a first mortgage on the 15-acre property in Stamford, appraised at $27.1 million in February 2022 by Senior Living Valuation Services, Inc. (SLVS). Founded in 1991, SLVS is a San Francisco based firm that provides appraisal and consulting services to the senior housing industry.

About the BANs

  • Par Amount: $32,340,000 (subject to change)
  • Rating: Non-rated
  • Interest: The 2022 BANs will not bear interest on a current basis. The 2022 BANs will accrete interest  semi-annually and  payable on final maturity or earlier redemption
  • Tax Exemption: Interest on the 2022 BANs is excludable from gross income for federal and Connecticut income tax purposes
  • Denominations: Minimum $25,000 and multiples of $5,000 thereafter
  • Restrictions: Qualified Institutional Buyers or Accredited Investors only
  • Redemption: It is anticipated the 2022 BANs will be redeemed along with accreted interest with the proceeds of the permanent financing
  • Recourse: JSS has no obligation to make payments under the 2022 BANs
  • Final maturity: November 1, 2027 (subject to change)

Use of Proceeds

  • Acquisition of the 15-acre project site in Stamford, CT
  • Architectural design fees and expenses
  • Marketing fees and expenses
  • Transaction costs
  • Other related costs

Development Team

  • Development Consultant: Greenbrier Development LLC
  • Architect: Perkins Eastman DPC
  • Construction Manager: LECESSE Construction Services LLC
  • Co-Managers: JSS and Greenbrier Senior Living LLC

Security

  • First mortgage on land appraised at $27.1 million (83.3%. of estimated BANs par amount)
  • Assignment of architect and development consulting contracts

Key Financial Covenants

  • Design Milestones
  • Quarterly Sales Milestones

We are currently accepting indications of interest for these tax-exempt bonds with an expected pricing the week of November 7, 2022, and anticipated settlement during the week of November 28, 2022. For more information including risks, please read the Preliminary Limited Offering Memorandum in its entirety. If you have interest in purchasing these bonds, please contact your HJ Sims financial professional as soon as possible.

*Subject to change

No dealer, broker, salesperson, or other person has been authorized to give any information or to make any representation other than those contained in the Preliminary Limited Offering Memorandum and, if given or made, such other information or representation should not be relied upon as having been authorized by the Issuer, the Borrower, or the Underwriters. The information set forth herein has been obtained from the Issuer, Borrower, and other sources that are believed to be reliable, but is not guaranteed as to accuracy or completeness by, and is not construed as a representation of, the Underwriters. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. Under no circumstances shall this constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. Any offering or solicitation will be made only to investors pursuant to the Preliminary Limited Offering Memorandum, which should be read in its entirety. Investments involve risk including the possible loss of principal. HJ Sims is a member of FINRA and SIPC, and is not affiliated with TJH Senior Living, LLC, The Jewish Home For the Elderly or any Jewish Senior Services entity.

HJ Sims Market Commentary: Webs of Belief

HJ Sims Logo

The total amount of data in the world as of 2020 was estimated to be 44 zettabytes, or 44 trillion gigabytes, and every day since then we have created about 2.5 quintillion bytes more. So how do we handle this vast pool of information available to us, with more arriving constantly throughout the day and night? In order to be able to function amid all the information flow, we tend to create what some term a “web of belief”, a core logic, whether it is in fact logical or not. Many personal webs of belief have been completely altered during the pandemic. Those campaigning for public office count on many webs to be recast close to election day. It is happening again this year as voters have become laser focused on inflation, mortgage and interest rates, immigration, and crime, among other issues.

Continue reading

HJ Sims Market Commentary: Warped and Twisted

HJ Sims Logo

The Milky Way is vast: it may be one of trillions of galaxies in the universe, but it is about a thousand light years thick and stretching some 120,000 light years from end to end, holding every alien planet that our telescopes have ever spotted. To travel once around, it would take 250 million years. The Sun is based along one of its smaller arms about 26,000 light years from the turbulent core, which is packed with supermassive black holes. It has a thin, flat disk of gas and an unknown number of stars, some of which are believed to be 10 to 13 billion years old, in the middle. Near the edges, however, it appears rather sloppy, quite twisted and warped. In the financial markets these days, there is quite a lot that is warped, twisted and bubbly.

Continue reading

HJ Sims Market Commentary: Fourth Quarter Challenges and Opportunities

HJ Sims Logo

There is a form of writing going back to the 17th century known as a lipogram wherein a single letter, or a number of letters, are omitted from a work. The author’s challenge is to compose a poem, article or book without using the common letter ‘e’, for example — no easy task. In the case of this short market commentary, 889 instances of the vowel ‘e’ can be found. Imagine the difficulty involved in penning, say, a 50,000-word novel without a single use of that letter. These days we do not need to conjure up new challenges. We have plenty as it is just trying to get through a trading day without another loss, passing a gas station without seeing higher prices, coughing and wondering if we have the new COVID variant, turning on the TV without having a central banker tell us about the harsher dose of rate medicine we need to swallow for the next six months – or longer.

Continue reading