• Berkadia Secures Large Portfolio Refinance

    Berkadia closed $627.2 million in agency financing for Project Raven. Project Raven is a 35-asset seniors housing portfolio with 4,395 independent living, assisted living and memory care units. The portfolio spans 15 states. Austin Sacco, Steve Muth, Garrett Sacco and Alec Rosenfeld handled the financing on behalf of an institutional borrower.... Read More »
  • 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... Read More »
  • 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... Read More »
  • BMO and TCG Refinance Florida CCRC

    BMO’s Healthcare Real Estate Finance group acted as sole lender on a real estate term loan refinancing for La Posada, a Class-A, 333-unit CCRC in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Originally opened in 2014 and with a major renovation and addition completed in 2018, the campus offers independent living (245 units), assisted living (30 units), memory... Read More »
  • The Lenders Roundtable: A Capital Markets Update

    On Thursday, June 26th, Managing Editor of The SeniorCare Investor Ben Swett sat down with a group of expert panelists to dive into the evolving financing process of M&A deals. Panelists included Dave Boitano, EVP & CIO of LTC Properties, Cary Tremper, President & CEO of Tremper Capital Group, and Patrick Gilbreath, Sr. Relationship... Read More »
Brookdale’s June Occupancy Should Be Higher

Brookdale’s June Occupancy Should Be Higher

Brookdale Senior Living reported June and second quarter 2024 occupancy, and while census increased, is it enough to carry them through next year’s winter season? Probably not, unless they have a huge July and August, which is possible, but not likely. Weighted average occupancy for June came in at 78.2%, up 10 basis points sequentially, but still below every month in the fourth quarter last year. Month-end occupancy was a little better, at 79.7%, up 20 basis points from May and up 50 basis points from April. But that 79.7% occupancy at the end of June is exactly the same as the end of September last year. That is not progress.  The press release had a great line. “Both June and... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: Overturning Chevron and the Effects on M&A

60 Seconds with Swett: Overturning Chevron and the Effects on M&A

There has been a lot of news to analyze from Washington, D.C. in the last couple of weeks, and the result of the 2024 election will certainly impact the operational and investment landscape in senior care. But we are still wrapping our heads around perhaps the most consequential news of late for the industry, which was the Supreme Court’s overruling of the Chevron doctrine, the 40-year judicial standard that had given a lot of leeway for administrative bodies to interpret statutes and implement regulations across the country. The case overturning Chevron is known as Loper. Now, it is up to the courts to determine those administrations’ regulatory powers, and ultimately Congress will... Read More »
60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: Mad as Hell

60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: Mad as Hell

We are halfway through the year, and I am already angry. Angry at what, you may ask? All the interference from government, both elected officials and the bureaucrats. From people who think they understand how seniors housing should work. From the unions. From the anti-PE firm groups. I always say, do a few 12-hour shifts, or move in for a few days, and then tell me what you think. It is not easy, and most people are doing the best they can. Regardless, I am mad as Hell and getting tired of it all.  Except, and not to sound hypocritical, but I had to smile when I read about the investigations into A Place for Mom, a service that I always had my suspicions about. A service that many... Read More »
Beth Mace New Director at Brookdale

Beth Mace New Director at Brookdale

Brookdale Senior Living recently held its annual meeting of shareholders, and Beth Mace was voted in as a new member of its Board of Directors. Not only that, but she received more votes than any other nominee (157,658,156), and fewer “against” votes than any other nominee.     As readers know, we have complained that for many years Brookdale’s board has lacked any outside directors with any real knowledge of the seniors housing business, and now they have one. Beth recently retired as the head of research at NIC, and had been responsible for providing financial data to the industry to try to help investors and lenders understand certain dynamics, and how those dynamics... Read More »
Brookdale Posts Census Increase…Finally

Brookdale Posts Census Increase…Finally

We are now beyond this year’s muted flu season, and Brookdale Senior Living posted a small increase in occupancy for May, which should be the beginning of the peak summer selling period. If they don’t see larger increases in the next three months, it may be a rough start to next year. May average occupancy increased by 20 basis points over April, to 78.1%, while month-end occupancy increased by 30 basis points over April to 79.5%. Second quarter-to-date weighted average occupancy increased by 160 basis points to 78.0% compared with 76.4% in the comparable 2023 period.  Unfortunately for Brookdale, this significantly underperforms the market. Using Welltower’s same-community SHOP... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: Overturning Chevron and the Effects on M&A

60 Seconds with Swett: WSJ’s Private Equity Analysis in Health Care

Last week, The Wall Street Journal published an article examining private equity activity in the healthcare M&A market, specifically that its activity was down compared with 2023 because of increased regulatory scrutiny and higher interest rates. The article cited Pitchbook transaction data, and some of the numbers left our editors at our sister platform LevinPro HC, which exclusively covers the healthcare M&A market, scratching their heads. According to Pitchbook, as cited in the article, there were 180 PE add-on deals, or when a PE firm buys a company through a portfolio company, through May 28. Our numbers are higher, as LevinPro HC recorded 193 deals from a PE-backed company,... Read More »