• 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 »

Brookdale May Be One Step Closer

With two new board members and some corporate governance changes, Brookdale Senior Living seems to be heading on the path of a major real estate event. What can I say, management at Brookdale Senior Living seems to be going down a path that I recommended they not take. Imagine that. Rather than have a public shareholder fight, they have added two new board members with some serious real estate experience, which is what activist investor Sandell Management wanted. The share price, however, closed early this week at its lowest level since March 6. Hmmm. We know that management and the board are supposed to make decisions to enhance shareholder value. I get it. But here is the problem. What... Read More »

Skilled Nursing M&A In 2015

After the record-setting valuations in 2014, the skilled nursing acquisition market is already off to a strong start. After the skilled nursing market hit a record for the average price per bed for the second year in a row last year, I wasn’t too sure what to expect for 2015. So far, I have not been disappointed, as buying interest continues to be relatively strong, especially at the higher price points. In 2014, there were 19 transactions with a price above $100,000 per bed. So far this year, there have been four sales with a range between $132,000 and $189,000 per bed. On the lower end of the scale, there have been just three transactions below $40,000 per bed, which either means the... Read More »

The Ventas Spin-off Has People Talking

Here are differing opinions as to what motivated Ventas to spin out most of its skilled nursing portfolio. There has been a lot of talk about the recent announcement by Ventas to spin out most of its skilled nursing properties into a new publicly traded REIT. In our April newsletter issue, we stated that it was a smart move for Ventas, and a great move for Ray Lewis, who will become CEO of the new spin out. But tongues have been wagging in terms of whether this was a defensive move on the part of Ventas, meaning that management has decided that the skilled nursing business is not something they want to focus on, at least not with small operators in their portfolio. Or, was it an offensive... Read More »

Cap Rates And Reality

There appears to be a feeding frenzy on where cap rates should be, and the frenzy is only taking them lower. Did you read about the fully stabilized assisted living community that sold for a 3.5% cap rate on first year numbers? You didn’t? April fools, neither did I. But don’t be surprised if it happens given the way the market is going. Two months ago, while attending a seniors housing conference, we heard a rather matter-of-fact statement that cap rates for “A” properties were in the range of 5.5% to 6.0%, and “B” properties were in the broad 6% range. While our annual statistics do not bear this out, we do know that there are transactions done with cap rates between 5% and 6%, with a... Read More »

The Battle For Brookdale

Shareholders are taking it up a notch to raise the value of Brookdale Senior Living. In World War II we had the Battle of the Bulge, and in seniors housing, we now have the Battle for Brookdale. Sandell Management, which owns about 2 million Brookdale shares, has nominated three directors, including Tommy Sandell himself, to help the company maximize shareholder value, claiming current directors have little real estate expertise, and in one case seem in imply that one current director, who they want to replace, is too old by stating his age (77). Tell that to Jim Moore. Now, Glenview Capital Management, which has upped its ownership from 8.75 million shares three months ago to 11.59... Read More »

How HCP Will Deal With Its Largest Tenant

HCP plans to sell up to 50 HCR ManorCare SNFs, but will it really work? The REIT HCP announced in February that it will try to sell up to 50 of its HCR ManorCare skilled nursing facilities to try to improve on the property level lease coverage ratio that is below 1.0x. The way it is going to work is that HCP will credit the annual lease payments in an amount equal to 7.75% of the sales proceeds. Using an example of a current 0.80x lease coverage on a facility to be sold, if it sold at a market cap rate of 12% to 12.5%, there would be no improvement in lease coverage. In fact, the coverage would decline slightly, so HCP would really not be any better off. One equity analyst did the math and... Read More »