• Strawberry Fields REIT’s 2025 Growth

    Strawberry Fields REIT reported its 2025 operating results, noting that it was the best year since its inception more than 10 year ago. The company posted significant increases in FFO and AFFO, and it completed more than $110 million in several new acquisitions. Its portfolio now includes 131 skilled nursing facilities, 10 assisted living... Read More »
  • Owner/Operator Exits SNF Sector

    An independent owner/operator exited the skilled nursing sector through its divestment of Sunrise Country Manor, which has 80 beds in Milford, Nebraska, and features a mix of private and semi-private units. It maintained an 83% occupancy rate at the time of the sale. A regional operator looking to expand its footprint in Nebraska acquired the... Read More »
  • Assisted Living Providers Join Forces 

    Majestic Residences recently expanded its footprint, adding 17 assisted living communities and six in active development, through its acquisition of Avendelle Senior Living. Avendelle will be integrated into the Majestic Residences platform, with Avendelle’s corporate team retained. The combined organization will operate under the Majestic... Read More »
  • Investor Secures Financing and Acquires Class-A Community

    BWE’s Seniors Housing Capital Markets Team sold and financed The Capstone at Station Camp, which sits in the Nashville, Tennessee MSA. Built in 2021, the Class-A assisted living and memory care community comprises 100 units in Gallatin. It is operated by TerraBella Senior Living.  BWE represented the seller, Hunt Midwest. The buyer was a... Read More »
  • Multiple SNFs Sell in Separate Transactions

    A large skilled nursing company sold its 181-bed skilled nursing facility to a private investment firm based in New York, exiting South Carolina in the process. The buyer had an existing skilled nursing footprint, and will be leasing this facility to a regional operator. The building was older, built in the 1980s, and was around 80% occupied at... Read More »
Record Sale Price

Record Sale Price

Brookdale Senior Living has agreed to sell its trophy community in New York City at a record price to Ventas, but will keep the management. Anyone who heard former Brookdale Senior Living CEO Mark Schulte address the ASHA annual meeting in the aftermath of 9/11 will never forget it. He talked about their newest project in lower Manhattan. There was nary a dry eye in the room. The community, called The Hallmark at Battery Park at the time, was still in fill-up, covered in inches of dust and debris, and had to be evacuated. The industry at other communities pulled together, took in as many Brookdale residents as possible, not knowing how long they would stay, not knowing how they would get... Read More »
Record Sale Price

Brookdale vs. Land & Buildings

Jonathan Litt of activist investor Land & Buildings has sent yet another letter to Brookdale Senior Living shareholders, still calling for a sale of the real estate. It appears that Brookdale Senior Living is at the early stages of righting its ship. And, activist investor Jonathan Litt of Land & Buildings has been complimenting management for its actions in the past year. But he still is not happy. Who could blame him with Brookdale’s share price still in the toilet at under $8.00 per share. He continues to believe the market is not recognizing the inherent value in Brookdale’s owned real estate, to which we continue to say, that is not how the market should value an operating... Read More »
Record Sale Price

Rolling Four Quarters Multiples

It has certainly been a busy year in the M&A market, with transaction volume on pace to top last year’s, according to The Senior Care Acquisition Report. Despite all the headwinds and headline issues, buyers are still very active, and in many cases paying top dollar for the assets they want. The independent living market remains the strongest, with the average price per unit rising to $241,300 for the 12 months ended June 30, 2018, or 5% higher than in calendar year 2017. The average cap rate was 7.2%. The assisted living market, where all the excess development has been, dropped by 5% to $209,100 per unit for the 12 months ended June 30, compared with last year. The average cap rate... Read More »
Record Sale Price

Should Cap Rates Go Lower?

Two major REIT CEOs can see seniors cap rates moving below multifamily for the first time. The Big Two REITs have reported their second earnings, and while occupancy and labor costs certainly remain an issue for their operating partners, there was one funny comment that came out of the calls. Well, funny if you get your kicks from these sorts of things the way I do. Apparently, Welltower CEO Tom DeRosa and Ventas CEO Debbie Cafaro see eye to eye on at least one thing. As one analyst joked, they both apparently agree that seniors housing cap rates should be lower than multifamily, and I think they were even talking about assisted living. The reason? Because demand will do nothing but grow,... Read More »
Record Sale Price

Occupancy And Active Adult Communities

Seniors housing occupancy hits a low because of new supply, while active adult communities begin to take off. As you know, occupancy in seniors housing now stands at a low point since the Great Recession, especially on the assisted living side. Eighteen months ago, “the market” was looking for a turn around by the second half of 2018. Not happening. Now it is the second half of 2019, with some looking at 2020. Maybe happening. New supply has obviously had its impact, and people keep on developing. But some developers are moving into what is variously called the 55+ market or “active adult” communities. They are easier to zone, cheaper to build and don’t require much staff, all important... Read More »
Record Sale Price

The Warning Signs Were There

With assisted living occupancy now at an eight-year low, the reasons seemed very obvious a few years ago. I am a hoarder. I like to keep reports, articles, magazines and anything else of interest pertaining to seniors housing and care. So, last night I was cleaning up some papers stacked in my office and came across one of Jerry Doctrow’s first blogs since retiring from Stifel Nicolaus in 2015. Dated January 6, 2016, it was called, “Why Near-Term Trends Could Spell Trouble for Senior Housing.” As I re-read it, all I thought was, why didn’t more people see the problem back then? NIC MAP had just come out with its most recent quarterly data on occupancy and construction, and while not... Read More »