Odd Fellows to sell assist-living facility

The Odd Fellows will close a 118-bed retirement home near the University of Nevada, Reno, and has put the property on the market.

The 40,000-square-foot senior housing facility at 1155 Beech St. is listed for sale for $2.5 million, or $60 a square foot, by Odd Fellows Retirement Manor Inc. The non-profit organization, part of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, had operated the assisted-living facility since 1964.

Wayne N. Reynolds, chairman of the Odd Fellows Grand Lodge & Rebekkah Assembly of Nevada, says the board's decision to sell the facility was not easily reached.

"One of tenets of the Odd Fellows order is to relieve the distressed," Reynolds says. "But many of our members felt it was probably wise to move forward and offer the property to some other professional retirement home operator to upgrade it."

Marketing the Odd Fellows Retirement Manor requires a two-pronged approach, says broker Todd Blonsley, vice president of investments for Marcus and Millichap Real Estate Investment Services. The company has been retained by the Odd Fellows to sell the property.

Blonsley says Marcus and Millichap will market the property to investors or non-profit groups that operate senior housing facilities. Another possible purchaser would be an investor in multi-family housing who could renovate the property into rental housing, the broker said.

The purchaser would have to get licensing and change the name of the facility.

"Senior housing isn't going away; it is a growth market," Blonsley says. "We have an aging population, and that demographic is getting larger. There is a need for more affordable and market-rate environments for single senior citizens who want an affordable environment. There just are not a lot of facilities out there."

NNBW staff