• 60 Seconds with Swett: The Problem with CMS Interpretive Guidelines

    Just a day after we highlighted the potential downsides of overregulation of assisted living from the federal level, a case of regulatory overreach involving a nursing home just headed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth District in hopes of overturning a $1.8 million civil monetary penalty. Without getting into the minutiae too much, the... Read More »
  • Kayne Anderson Fund Tops Target

    The familiar refrain continues, with more capital continuing to flow into the seniors housing industry, property prices should keep rising. Kayne Anderson Real Estate, the real estate private equity arm of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P., has closed the largest opportunistic equity fund in its history, at more than 70% above its initial... Read More »
  • Well-Performing Full-Continuum Community Sells

    Blueprint announced its role in the sale of Morningstar at Golden Ridge, a seniors housing community in Peoria, Arizona (Phoenix MSA). Built in 2019, the community has 38 independent living, 65 assisted living and 35 memory care units. It is nearly fully occupied. The community is one of the newest and most well-appointed assets within a... Read More »
  • Kaplan Development Divests to Cedarwood Group

    Cedarwood Group closed its acquisition of Saranac Village at Will Rogers, a 75-unit independent living community in Saranac Lake, New York. The seller was Kaplan Development Group, which took over Will Rogers after the first year of it being open as a senior living community. The community was originally built in 1928 as a Tudor-style... Read More »
  • Omega Welcomes New CEO and CFO

    Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc.’s President, Matthew Gourmand will become the REIT’s Chief Executive Officer in conjunction with the planned retirement of Taylor Pickett, effective October 1, 2026. Pickett will also step down from the Board of Directors upon his retirement, and the Board of Directors intends to appoint Gourmand to the Board,... Read More »
60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: Purposeful Living?

60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: Purposeful Living?

My friend Bob Kramer likes to go on stage and talk about how seniors housing is about to get disrupted in a major way, and that if you don’t change, you will be “disrupted” out of business. Pretty harsh words, but he is most likely talking about the top 10% of the market, the market that most everyone likes to target. His point is that people are living longer and in better health, and he calls it purposeful longevity as opposed to accidental longevity of the past. They want to contribute to their community as opposed to simply take from it. As part of that, Bob believes seniors housing communities need to provide a sense of purpose to their residents, adding life to their years, not years... 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: Purposeful Living?

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 »