NEW YORK CITY-As the New York arm of Lee & Associates continues to expand its footprint in the Manhattan market, the brokerage firm is now creating a national platform in two booming niche sectors: senior housing and healthcare. The firm has tapped ex-Jones Lang LaSalle managing directors Michael Berne and Richard Donohue to lead Lee NYC’s new senior housing and healthcare services group, GlobeSt.com has learned exclusively.

Berne tells GlobeSt.com that the duo moved over to Lee because of the “great opportunity” to build a new program in two dynamic areas from the ground-up. “The senior housing and healthcare sectors are really heating up, and one of the things that gets people to sit up and take notice about what’s going on with senior housing is when I tell them that 10,000 people turn 65 everyday in the United States,” he says. “And they are not only turning 65, but they are living a lot longer and healthier.”

Given the aging of the Baby Boomer population, the trend is creating greater demand for medical office, assisted living centers and other age-restricted communities. “So we saw an opportunity at Lee & Associates nationally to basically umbrella all 47 offices with a seniors housing healthcare practice,” he says.