A couple of struggling skilled nursing facilities in Arizona got a new lease on life. By that, we mean that their publicly traded REIT owner found a new operator to manage them under a long-term lease. Amy Sitzman, Christopher Hyldahl and Gideon Orion of Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors handled the transaction.
These facilities are located on opposite sides of the state and consist of 232 total licensed beds. It will be an uphill battle for the new operator. Both built in the early 1980s, one facility is located in a tertiary market, but the other is on the SFF list and is in need of capital improvements, in addition to cleaning up its regulatory act. Occupancy was low, close to 50%. Highlighting the facilities’ good Medicare census (about half of the census), Blueprint ultimately identified a single tenant with a large presence in the respective markets. Now the turnaround begins. The good news is that the one facility should be graduating from the SFF list soon.
