Team leads new era in senior housing development

DES MOINES, Iowa. June 24, 2021 — LCS Development, the senior living development company of LCS, is reorganizing the business line to accelerate its growth strategy and maximize its real estate and development experience. LCS hired Chuck Murphy last year to provide strategy and performance oversight of the LCS Development and LCS Real Estate business lines for parent company LCS. The following individuals have been promoted to help to lead the effort: 

• Tom Mathisen to senior vice president/managing director – development 
• Jason Jorgenson to senior vice president/managing director – development
• Todd Shaw to vice president – development 
• J. Ross Nichols to director of project and new business – development 

“LCS Development holds a unique position in the marketplace,” says Chuck Murphy, EVP/senior managing director of development and real estate. “First, LCS Development provides development services for multiple product types, including Life Plan Communities and rental independent, assisted, and memory care communities. Additionally, the team develops proprietary projects in which we take an ownership interest alongside our institutional partners. We’ve realigned the organizational structure, enabling the new leadership team to execute a more focused approach to serving current clients while growing its business. We are taking all that experience and aligning our team to accelerate our growth and better serve our existing clients.” 

Tom Mathisen is moving from LCS Real Estate to LCS Development to lead the growth and execution strategy for The Delaney communities. He has been a key leader on the real estate team and will continue collaborating with this team on the Delaney platform moving forward. Mathisen’s industry relationships will be instrumental in expanding the company’s footprint across the nation. The rental business continues to be a big part of the growth plan for parent company LCS, and Mathisen will keenly focus on maximizing the development aspect of that growth. 

The current Delaney portfolio consists of four communities in Texas and one that recently opened in New Jersey. Another Delaney community is currently under construction in New Jersey, and several opportunities will follow as the pipeline continues to grow along the East Coast and beyond. 

Jason Jorgenson will draw on his 25 years of development experience to lead a targeted client services development strategy for the company’s Life Plan division. Jorgenson has diverse greenfield, repositioning, and rental experience serving LCS equity communities and not-for-profit clients nationwide. Having co-led The Delaney platform with Mathisen for several years, this new role will allow Jorgenson to leverage his Life Plan industry relationships and continue to support Mathisen and The Delaney team. In coordination with the new business development lead for LCS Development, J. Ross Nichols, the plan includes: 

Growing both repositioning and greenfield development business by broadening its outreach to existing and new not-for-profit communities. 

Leveraging LCS Development’s in-house design and market research teams to help communities with expansion and repositioning projects. 

Establishing a Life Plan leadership team with experienced professionals serving our not-for-profit and institutional capital partners.

Todd Shaw brings 30 years of real estate and senior living development experience to his role, most recently leading the project team at Broadview at Purchase College, a university-affiliated senior living community in Purchase, New York. Shaw and his project and sales team have guided the project through the regulatory process and successfully reached sales goals amid the pandemic. Working with the College’s leadership, the team will deliver a community that provides residents with unique opportunities for lifelong learning and intergenerational experiences in the heart of a college campus. He will continue to serve in the leadership role for Broadview and assume responsibility for directing the master planning process for Life Plan Communities. Additionally, Todd will lead the new development, expansion, and repositioning projects for other Life Plan Communities. 

J. Ross Nichols has played a key role on the LCS Development team since 2007, collaborating with our clients and operating partners in the design, development, and expansion of premier Life Plan Communities. Nichols will draw on his depth of experience to identify and attract new development clients in collaboration with Joe Weisenburger, LCS’s new business development lead. 

Murphy adds, “What’s most important is the experience LCS Development brings its customers. We’ve been developing senior living communities for 50 years, and we are confident we are on track to develop for the next 50 years. It’s an exciting time.” 

About LCS Development® 

LCS Development, An LCS® Company, is a full-service third-party developer of Life Plan and Rental communities dedicated to designing and developing senior living communities since 1971. It has experience helping owners and sponsors plan and develop highly complex and successful projects in markets throughout the United States. Utilizing four decades of in-house expertise and single-source precision ranging from master planning strategy and design to construction management, sales, finance, and more, LCS Development has helped develop more than $2.1 billion worth of projects between 2010-2020. At LCS Development, Experience Is Everything®. For more information, visit lcsdevelopmentLCS.com.