As Norfolk, Virginia-based hospital system Sentara Healthcare embarks on its planned merger with North Carolina-based Cone Health, it is first divesting its entire skilled nursing portfolio. The seven facilities are scattered throughout southern Virginia, with five surrounding the Norfolk/Virginia Beach market. The not-for-profit hospital chain started looking for buyers in the first quarter of 2020, before COVID-19 set in, but the process confirmed their decision to find an owner more focused on the skilled nursing market. That new owner will be Saber Healthcare Group, a private skilled nursing operator with over 125 facilities across the country.
The facilities were mostly built in the late-1980s and early 1990s, with one opening more recently in 2017. They range in size from 84 beds to 216 beds, and there was an 86-unit assisted living community included in the deal. Altogether, the portfolio features 850 total beds. No purchase price was disclosed, but the deal is expected to close November 1. Sentara will still maintain two PACE facilities in southeastern Virginia but will otherwise be totally out of the senior care business.
