• 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 »
High-End Medicaid Assisted Living

High-End Medicaid Assisted Living

More than 25 years ago, when private-pay assisted living burst on the scene, there was a large percentage of nursing home residents that had no other choice in their local communities, but had the financial resources to pay out-of-pocket. Many of them turned to assisted living. For those on Medicaid, the choices were slim.  We have long advocated that states could save money with their Medicaid-funded residents if Medicaid covered more assisted living for those who truly can’t afford any private pay living arrangement, especially those needing any kind of nursing care. The fear, of course, was that the Medicaid pie would expand as opposed to merely shifting where the money... Read More »
Capital Senior Living Corrects Earnings Statement

Capital Senior Living Corrects Earnings Statement

Early today, Capital Senior Living announced revisions to its second quarter earnings report, most likely as a result of our reporting last Friday of the very misleading error, as well as management’s denial of any reporting issue during the earnings call. No one else caught the mistake, and it was not an insignificant one.  In today’s release, they called it an “inconsistency” in the preparation of the supplemental information with regard to operating expenses and operating margin. As a result, the operating margin for the second quarter was 21.5% and not 28.7% as was originally reported. The originally reported 860-basis point sequential increase in operating margin should... Read More »
Capital Senior Living, Mixed Messages

Capital Senior Living, Mixed Messages

Capital Senior Living released its second quarter earnings yesterday, and there was some good news with the bad. On the good news front, occupancy has increased from the February low of 75.3% to 81.8% at the end of July, for a whopping 650 basis point increase. That is among the best we have heard in the industry. Some of the increase came from discounting early on in the recovery, and management said these incentives have begun to decline.  The bad news on the occupancy front is that the rate of increase has significantly slowed. April saw a 143-basis point increase, followed by 134 bps in May, and then slowed to 85 in June and a paltry 25 in July. Now, as we have statistically... Read More »
Ventas Sees Census Growth

Ventas Sees Census Growth

When looking at the second quarter results for Ventas, it almost appears that there are a few different story lines. Take the 321 U.S. same-community SHOP portfolio. Occupancy decreased 530 basis points in the second quarter to 72.1% from the second quarter of 2020. Not great but in line with the rest of the industry.   But then its Sunrise Senior Living portfolio’s spot occupancy has increased by 627 basis points from the low point in mid-March to the end of July. Although it was not a straight-line increase, an average of 156 basis points a month is great. Heck, increasing at that level every quarter would be good. Its Atria Senior Living portfolio... Read More »
Brookdale Continues To Make Progress

Brookdale Continues To Make Progress

The one thing that has been beneficial about COVID is the enhanced reporting by the public companies. By the time they release quarterly earnings results, they have already been issuing monthly updates, mostly on occupancy, so there is rarely much of a surprise. Such was the case with Brookdale Senior Living. On the occupancy front, average occupancy in the second quarter was 90 basis points higher than in the first quarter. While we would have liked to see a better gain, census was still declining in the first quarter and didn’t really flatten out until March/April on a weighted average basis. More impressively, month-end census has increased for five consecutive months starting in March.... Read More »
Capital Senior Living Lives Another Day

Capital Senior Living Lives Another Day

It isn’t often that a company gets to report good news on two different fronts on the same day, especially in this environment. Capital Senior Living announced that June occupancy reached an average of 79.1%, up 380 basis points from its pandemic low of 75.3% this past February. We have been hearing a lot of that lately, and it is great news.  Perhaps that is what Conversant Capital LLC had its eye on these past few months as it was mulling over a major investment in Capital Senior Living. It is obviously looking at the future and counting on these occupancy increases to continue. Maybe not at the same pace, but continue nonetheless. What we do not know... Read More »