• 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 »
Senior Housing Innovation Coming Your Way

Senior Housing Innovation Coming Your Way

As the boomers age, and look at alternatives for housing, many seem to be popping up. There has been a lot of noise in the media about the hot new living arrangements for the elderly, or more specifically, the boomers who are soon to be the elderly. Whether it is co-living arrangements in urban environments or Bill (Green House) Thomas’ new idea called a Minka tiny house, which is about 325 to 400 square feet and is modular, or the new active adult communities being developed as 100 to 200-unit apartment buildings for the pre-retirement housing crowd, all these concepts may be giving senior living providers the jitters. They shouldn’t. As far as I can tell, these are all targeting a... Read More »
Senior Housing Innovation Coming Your Way

Thank You for 31 Wonderful Years

Happy Thanksgiving! First of all, I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. It is a great time to be with family and friends, and to be thankful for all that you have. As a company, we are entering our 70th year, which means we have been dedicated to the seniors housing and healthcare business for a very long time. You might think seniors housing didn’t exist 70 years ago, but it did, and the reality is, you would not recognize it, both physically and the quality of care. It was very different, which means you have come a long way. I want to thank you for sticking with us through all these years. I know you may not agree with me all the time, and I may have offended a few of you... Read More »
Senior Housing Innovation Coming Your Way

AARP and Safe Nursing Homes

AARP, not usually a friend of the skilled nursing sector, thinks that nurses on duty 24/7 will solve the quality of care problems. In case you are not a member of AARP, like I am, the cover story in their November Bulletin was called, “How Safe Are Our Nursing Homes?” The story did an overview of the skilled nursing industry, including some of the recent rule changes. But it highlighted what didn’t change, such as not addressing the need for staffing increases. The article blamed staffing, or the shortage of staffing, for most of the woes confronting the skilled nursing sector. The solution? Mandate having at least one nurse on staff 27/7. Great idea, but 1) where are you going to find... Read More »
Senior Housing Innovation Coming Your Way

Investing in Assisted Living at a Market Peak

Is now the time to invest in assisted living, build new communities, or sell your inventory? Join me tomorrow as we dissect the current market. Okay, so you have now all seen Brookdale Senior Living’s share price plunge below $9.00 a share yesterday. It was not so much no news on the sale of the company, but that operations continue to deteriorate from a financial perspective. Costs are up, discount pricing seems prevalent, and while occupancy increased a bit, it was not enough to help. These are real problems, yet in the assisted living acquisition market, average prices remain at record levels. If it is getting worse out there, why are investors continuing to plow money into the sector?... Read More »
Senior Housing Innovation Coming Your Way

REITs Having Trouble With Seniors Housing

We have heard more about REITs and their skilled nursing troubles, but LTC Properties’ announcement a month ago has been followed by a much larger seniors housing problem at Ventas. At first, everyone thought it was the skilled nursing sector that was going to give the healthcare REITs heartburn. After all, that was the sector struggling the most, right? But seniors housing has not been as resilient as previously thought. Brookdale Senior Living has had its well-documented problems, and last month LTC Properties disclosed issues it was having with underperforming memory care tenants. Then we had last week’s disclosure by Ventas that it was moving more than 70 communities leased to... Read More »
Senior Housing Innovation Coming Your Way

Senior Housing & Care Acquisition Pricing Softens

Across the senior housing and care spectrum, average per-unit and per-bed prices softened a little in the four quarters ended September 30, 2017. I am sure a lot of you have heard that the senior housing acquisition market is soft, reflecting concerns over census and rising costs. But how soft? Not very, according to our recent acquisition data. For the four quarters ended September 30, the average price per unit for assisted living did drop compared with the four quarters ended June 30, but by only 4% to $208,200.  It is still higher than the $193,650 per unit for calendar year 2016. The average AL cap rate dropped to 7.9%. The independent living market softened a little as well, with the... Read More »