The only licensed seniors housing community in Alleghany County, New York found a new owner, with Dave Balow of Senior Living Investment Brokerage handling the sale. Located in New York’s southern tier, this community was built in 1989 with 89 units and 137 beds of assisted living and memory care. It was the last asset owned by a private individual looking to retire, and operations were decent in 2019, with occupancy in the 80s and a 17% margin on under $3.38 million of revenues.
However, COVID hit the community at the end of 2020, and although the owner cleared the building of COVID roughly six to eight weeks afterward, he was not able to move any new admissions until March 2021 because of the state-mandated admission freeze. So, operations took a hit, with occupancy falling to 70% and trailing-12-month EBITDA declining around 25%.
There had been another potential buyer prior to COVID that was interested in acquiring the property with the contingency it could secure Assisted Living Program beds. But the state’s Department of Housing froze any approvals on those applications, and the deal went nowhere.
The current buyer, an Albany-based private owner/operator named Willow Ridge Senior Living, was engaged in February 2021 and closed the acquisition of the community’s real estate on August 23, paying $8 million, or $90,000 per unit. Live Oak Bank provided the debt for the transaction.
The transfer of the license is still a number of months away, no surprise for the state of New York. Willow Ridge’s principal is Mike Morris, a former Holiday Retirement and Brookdale Senior Living executive who is making his second acquisition in New York.
