What a difference a year makes. When Kandu Capital acquired Glenview Gardens in August 2014, the 119-unit independent living community was in bad shape, with an occupancy of 56%. The property was losing money too, on just $98,000 of monthly revenues. So after spending $5.5 million, or $49,100 per unit, to purchase the community, Kandu also spent an additional $1 million to both renovate the community and convert 36 units to assisted living. Kandu’s affiliate, Bloom Senior Living, also took over operations. After a little over a year, occupancy is up to 89%, and cash flow turned positive on $193,000 of monthly revenues. Plus, seven IL units had to be taken off line during the conversion process, so occupancy is technically at 94% on operating units. And earlier this month, the community received its AL license, allowing the 37 IL residents on Bloom’s internal waiting list to now become AL residents at the AL rate (they had been receiving home health care in their units until the AL license went through), with 10 AL residents on the external waiting list. To add to the success, Kandu is working with the State to license an additional 60 units for assisted living, which they expect to receive within the next 30 days. In the end, that will bring the final unit count at the community to 96 AL units and 23 IL units. When stabilized at 90% to 93% occupancy, revenues should be at least $4.0 million, and with an operating margin between 25% and 30% (probably closer to 30%), the value should be between $12.3 million and $14.8 million using a a conservative 8% cap rate. At 7%, just add a few million to the value. There is still work to be done, including possibly memory care down the road, but that is not a bad turnaround.
