• Community First Solutions Acquires Again in Ohio

    Ziegler was engaged by Marquee Capital, the real estate company affiliated with Marcus Investments, LLC, the Marcus’ family office, in the sale of its seniors housing community in Mason, Ohio. Built in 2020, BrightStar Senior Living of Mason sits on 3.2 acres with 41 assisted living and memory care units. The community was well occupied at 90%,... Read More »
  • Joint Venture Acquires Nashville Active Adult Community

    An active adult community in Germantown, Tennessee, found a new owner thanks to the team at Newmark. Built in 2020, Avenida Watermarq is a 161-unit, Class-A active adult community in an affluent suburb of Nashville. There are one- and two-bedroom options averaging 919 square feet per unit. Occupancy was 87%. Inspired Real Estate Partners and GEM... Read More »
  • Institutional Owner Divests Ohio Facility

    Evans Senior Investments arranged the sale of a skilled nursing facility in Ohio on behalf of an institutional owner looking to exit the market. The facility comprises 88 beds and 20 independent living units, which served as a referral source for the nursing home. The buyer was a regional owner/operator that is actively expanding in Ohio. This is... Read More »
  • Strawberry Fields Completes Missouri SNF Portfolio Acquisition

    Strawberry Fields REIT, Inc. announced that it completed the acquisition of nine skilled nursing facilities comprising 686 beds in Missouri for $59 million, or $86,000 per bed. The REIT completed the acquisition using cash on hand and the issuance of approximately $2.0 million in OP Units of Strawberry Fields REIT LP to the seller. Eight of the... Read More »
  • Macquarie Asset Management Launches Health Wave Partners

    Macquarie Asset Management, which has over 35 years of experience in the real estate sector and a current network of 15 specialist operator investments globally, announced the launch of Health Wave Partners, a seniors housing platform aimed at targeting investments in modern seniors housing assets alongside established operators. The platform... Read More »
What Does Brookdale’s Proxy Fight Cost?

What Does Brookdale’s Proxy Fight Cost?

It seems that hardly a day goes by without yet another SEC filing by Brookdale Senior Living detailing why its slate of Board candidates is far better for shareholders than the slate submitted by activist investor Ortelius Advisors. But how much are they spending on this? It would be nice to know, and we are sure shareholders would rather have the money spent on operations or debt repayment. It has now come down to two Board seats, and Brookdale’s management has been touting both Lee Wielansky and Victoria Freed’s qualifications. Here’s the problem we have. Wielansky has been on the Brookdale Board since 2015, where shareholders witnessed one of the largest losses in shareholder value ever... Read More »
Do We Hear $30 Per Hour as the New Minimum Wage?

Do We Hear $30 Per Hour as the New Minimum Wage?

We know we have the People’s Republic of California, and after New York’s Democratic Party primary, we may have the People’s Republic of New York City by November. The surprise winner of the primary was 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani. He is a self-professed Socialist, and more. In addition to free bussing, freezes on apartment rents, higher taxes on the wealthy (already one of the highest taxed regions in the country) and government run grocery stores, he wants to implement a $30 an hour minimum wage for New York City. We suspect he has no idea what the impact would be on employers. We suspect he does not care. But it could be different in the seniors housing industry. You may remember our... Read More »
Brookdale Making A Run?

Brookdale Making A Run?

Brookdale Senior Living just announced that May’s occupancy levels jumped quite impressively. Nothing like a proxy challenge to get things moving in the right direction. If only they had worked it two to three years ago, Cindy Baier might still have her job. But heck, she still has a lot of equity in the company, which is now increasing in value. Finally. May’s month-end occupancy increased by 50 basis points over April’s to land at 81.5%, or 200 basis points higher than last May. The weighted average occupancy in May was 80.0%, or 190 basis points above last May’s. Same-community weighted average occupancy in May jumped to 80.6%, up 20 basis points sequentially, while month-end... Read More »
60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: Brookdale Senior Living and SWAT

60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: Brookdale Senior Living and SWAT

Brookdale Senior Living announced it had recently formed SWAT teams to deal with its lowest-occupancy buildings to try to get them over the 80% hump, and there are a lot of them. Since then, the term SWAT team has been appearing more and more with other providers.  SWAT is a scary term, and stands for Special Weapons and Tactics, and in law enforcement is used to deal with barricaded persons, active shooting scenes and high-risk search warrants. Not exactly something we want to be associated with trying to get customers into senior living. But I understand the intent. The other frequently used term is the “silver tsunami” about to hit us. Again, a tsunami is extremely destructive,... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: The Republican Budget and Medicaid Cuts

60 Seconds with Swett: The Republican Budget and Medicaid Cuts

There will be significant political interest in what happens to Medicaid funding as Republicans work to pass a budget and tax bill with their very slim majority. Touching entitlements remains politically risky, and the party is divided on whether any Medicaid cuts would be acceptable heading into an election cycle. At this stage, per-capita caps on federal Medicaid payments to states do not appear to be under serious consideration. However, even without direct federal cuts, rulemaking changes could materially affect Medicaid-dependent providers. CMS has issued a proposed rule that aims to close what it describes as a Medicaid “tax loophole” that some states have used to inflate federal... Read More »
Sonida Senior Living Continues Upward Trend

Sonida Senior Living Continues Upward Trend

We are at the end of the first quarter 2025 earning roll call, and Sonida Senior Living posted another solid quarter. Weighted average occupancy for its same-community portfolio (56 communities) increased by 100 basis points year over year to 86.8%, which is at the top end of many of its competitors. In addition, same-community RevPOR increased by 5.5% to $4,274 year over year, same-community net operating income increased by 19.3% to $16.1 million, and the same-community operating margin jumped by 280 basis points to 27.6%.  On a sequential basis, RevPOR increased by 1.8%, same-community net operating income increased by 4.5%, and same-community net operating margin jumped by 80... Read More »