• Value-Add AL/MC Community Trades

    An institutional owner decided to divest a non-core asset, and engaged Jason Punzel, Vince Viverito, Jake Anderson and Taylor Graham of Senior Living Investment Brokerage to run the sale process. The asset is located in Hillsboro, Oregon (Portland MSA), and features 36 assisted living and memory care units, with 62 licensed beds. It was built in... Read More »
  • Brookdale Divests California Community to Public REIT

    Blueprint was engaged by an institutional, national owner/operator in the strategic disposition of a large rental CCRC in Bakersfield, California. The 20-acre campus was developed in 1999 and provides the whole continuum of care, including independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing across three large buildings and... Read More »
  • Two Midwest Assets Trade

    A couple of seniors housing communities traded in the Midwest, selling to a couple of growing owner/operators. First, in the Indianapolis area, The Kiser Group’s Mark Myers and SVN | Senior Living Advisors’ John Klement led the sale of a 157-unit seniors housing community featuring a mix of independent living, assisted living and memory care... Read More »
  • Assisted Living Portfolio Closes in Wisconsin

    Bob Richards of Senior Care Realty recently completed the sale of a five-property assisted living portfolio in Wisconsin, closing the deal in multiple tranches. Richards had worked with the seller, AC Capital, for 15 years, helping them grow their portfolio over the years. AC Capital also has self-managed the communities for the last decade. Now,... Read More »
  • 60 Seconds with Swett: Here We Go Again

    AARP just published a report on assisted living, and all I can say is, here we go again. It concludes that “the state of assisted living today is cause for concern for many stakeholders. The lack of national federal standards for care centers creates an underregulated space.” It continues on, stating that the “absence of national oversight,... Read More »
Ventas SHOP Poised for Growth

Ventas SHOP Poised for Growth

Ventas is one of the largest owners of seniors housing communities, so it is a REIT always worthwhile to watch. It owns 544 communities with 61,794 units in its SHOP portfolio, plus another 267 communities with 20,149 units that it owns and leases to operators.   We usually focus on the larger SHOP portfolio, mostly because there is much more detailed information on it. And this portfolio includes both the 463 U.S. communities and the 81 in Canada. This is important because the Canadian portfolio has a much higher average occupancy rate, 93.2% compared with 77.6% in the U.S., even though the U.S. is seeing more significant improvements. But how do you really improve on 93.2%? The... Read More »
Brookdale Improves, But More Is Needed

Brookdale Improves, But More Is Needed

As you know, we never expect much in the first quarter for seniors housing operators, because historically it is always the toughest quarter from a census perspective. And Brookdale Senior Living is like an aircraft carrier: it is so big that it can take forever to change direction, and mishaps can take even longer to correct across their industry-leading 678 communities. Their first quarter results showed some progress, but also showed that they have a long road ahead to increase census and control labor costs. Digging out from weighted average occupancy of 69.4% in the first two months of 2021 is no easy task. And Brookdale should have a target of at least 85% across the portfolio, at a... Read More »
AlerisLife Starts Operations Review…Again

AlerisLife Starts Operations Review…Again

The shareholders of AlerisLife Inc., formerly known as Five Star Senior Living, just can’t catch a break. They completed a major review of their corporate structure and operations over the past few years, which resulted in cutting the company in half in terms of the number of properties operated and shifting from leases to management contracts. That seemed to work for a while, but the pandemic interrupted the progress. Now, just before the first quarter earnings results were released, the company announced that its CEO, Katie Potter, resigned effective April 30 (a Saturday, no less). Given the timing, we assume she was asked to resign. Jeff Leer, who has been EVP, CFO and Treasurer since... Read More »
LTC Properties Comes Out with Q1 Earnings

LTC Properties Comes Out with Q1 Earnings

LTC Properties’ first quarter earnings report was a mixed bag of news. The company is still dealing with some operator problems resulting in rent deferral and abatements, which affected its earnings. Rental income dropped year over year from $30.97 million in Q1:21 to $30.32 million in Q1:22, caused also by the transition of the Senior Care Centers and Abri Health Services portfolio. There was also the sale of a SNF in Washington and a lease incentive balance write-off related to a terminated lease that led to the drop in rental income.  However, offsetting the drop were new properties transitioned from Senior Lifestyle Corporation, rental income from completed development projects... Read More »
REITs: After Divesting Billions, They Are Back in Acquisition Mode

REITs: After Divesting Billions, They Are Back in Acquisition Mode

On April 28, 2022, Ben Swett, Editor of The SeniorCare Investor, spoke with three expert panelists on REITs, their strategies and their positive impact on the senior care market, post-pandemic. Those panelists included Mark Lamb, Chief Investment Officer of CareTrust REIT, Alex Florea, Head of Capital Markets at Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors and Kevin Pascoe, Chief Investment Officer of National Health Investors. They discussed a wide range of topics, including how to improve REITs’ relationships with their tenants, considerations for acquiring amid high valuations, and when to expect a return to “good” occupancy.  Mr. Swett kicked off the webinar by asking the panelists how... Read More »
Ensign Outperforms Yet Again 

Ensign Outperforms Yet Again 

We know we’ve said this before, but The Ensign Group continues to be the Energizer Bunny of the skilled nursing sector, consistently posting positive results in turbulent operating environments. Its Q1 earnings report, which factored in the Omicron surge and unprecedented staffing challenges, reported GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.89 and adjusted EPS of $0.99 for the quarter ended March 31, 2022, representing increases of 3.5% and 13.8% over the prior year quarter, respectively.   Consolidated GAAP revenues rose to $713.4 million, an increase of over 13.5% compared with the prior year quarter, but GAAP net income also rose by 2.3% over the prior year quarter to $50.3 million.... Read More »