• Grace Management Adds Five Ventas Communities

    Grace Management expanded its relationship with Ventas, adding five seniors housing communities owned by the REIT to its operating portfolio. The communities were previously managed under a triple-net lease structure. They include Brookdale Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois, Brookdale Northbrook in Northbrook, Illinois, Brookdale Springs Mesa... Read More »
  • Seller Boosts Census Ahead of Sale to JV

    Senwell Senior Investment Advisors sold Rose Hill Retirement Community, a 66-unit, 87-bed assisted living community in Marion, North Carolina. Originally built as a hospital, Rose Hill has been transformed by the seller over the past two decades into a senior care community. After a previous attempt to sell the community was unsuccessful,... Read More »
  • Joint Venture Buys Orange County Community

    A high-end seniors housing community in Orange County sold with the help of CBRE National Senior Housing. Aron Will and John Sweeny represented the joint venture seller in the deal, while Will and Matthew Kuronen arranged acquisition financing from a national bank. The loan came with a four-year term, a full term of interest only and a floating... Read More »
  • Developer Secures Construction Financing

    JLL Capital Markets arranged a $47 million construction financing for The Arbella at Blue Hills, a 164-unit, active adult community to be developed in Bloomfield, Connecticut. JLL worked on behalf of the developer, The United Group of Companies, Inc. (United Group) to secure the construction loan through Liberty Bank of Middletown, Connecticut.... Read More »
  • Midwest-Based Operator Refinances AL/MC Communities

    MONTICELLOAM, LLC, along with firm affiliates, provided a $28.5 million senior bridge financing for two Midwest seniors housing communities. The financing was originated by Karina Davydov, Senior Managing Director, Originations. The sponsor, a Midwest-based operator with a portfolio of over 40 seniors housing and healthcare properties and a... Read More »
Sabra Health Care REIT Sees SNF Improvement

Sabra Health Care REIT Sees SNF Improvement

As we all know, the skilled nursing sector was battered during the pandemic, and not only by the media. But optimism is in the air, at least at Sabra Health Care REIT. Its top seven skilled nursing providers, making up 63% of its skilled nursing rental income, saw an average increase in occupancy of 431 basis points from a late-December low to the end of April. In addition, its skilled mix census in its skilled nursing/transitional care portfolio at the end of April 2021 was 148 basis points higher than in February 2020, before the pandemic.  Just like other owners of seniors housing, its senior housing managed portfolio occupancy bottomed out in the first half of March and has... Read More »
New Senior Investment Group Reports April Occupancy Bump

New Senior Investment Group Reports April Occupancy Bump

The good occupancy news keeps on coming from the first quarter earnings announcements, with New Senior Investment Group the latest to report an occupancy jump in April. After January occupancy ended down 80 basis points, February down 60 basis points and March down 20 basis points, sequential occupancy grew by 40 basis points in April to 80.6%, which was the company’s first occupancy gain since the pandemic began. There was more good news, with first quarter leads representing 103% of average 2019 volume, and April leads staying above 2019 levels as well.  COVID-19 cases were also down to nearly zero, with one active resident case as of May 3 and four new resident cases reported in the... Read More »
Brookdale Senior Living Bottoms Out

Brookdale Senior Living Bottoms Out

It has been a tough go for Brookdale Senior Living for several years, really, ever since its acquisition of Emeritus in 2014. But the pandemic was almost the final nail in its coffin. Now those nails are beginning to be removed, and perhaps the resurrection is in sight.  While there is work still to be done, the big O, as in occupancy, has finally ended its slide. It looks like February was the bottom, with average occupancy dropping 60 basis points to 69.4% from January, and then remained there in March but increased 50 basis points in April to 69.9%. End-of-month occupancy also bottomed out in February at 70.1%, increasing by 50 basis points by March 31 and... Read More »
Omega Health Investors Makes M&A Moves In Q1

Omega Health Investors Makes M&A Moves In Q1

On May 6, Omega Healthcare Investors released their first quarter earnings report, and it was a period of major acquisition activity and balance sheet improvements that position the REIT well for the recovery that is surely coming soon in senior care. In the first quarter, Omega closed nearly $600 million of acquisitions and $16.8 million in capital renovations and new construction projects.   The largest deal by far was its $511.3 million acquisition of 24 senior living communities from Healthpeak Properties, which closed in January. The acquisition included the assumption of an in-place master lease with Brookdale Senior Living that provides for 2021 contractual rent of $43.5... Read More »
Good Vaccination News

Good Vaccination News

Connecticut takes the lead in vaccination rates, but senior care staffers need to get on board. I just heard that my home state, Connecticut, is number one in the country with more than 50% of those eligible, 16 and over, having been vaccinated. In my town, we are now well over 70%, and I suspect will hit 80% or more by the end of May. This is what we need. I have been fully vaccinated for over a month now, and it is quite a liberating feeling. Not that I was fearful about going anywhere pre-vaccination, but it does make you feel a little more empowered. And, I will be going to my first conference in late May. Can’t wait, although I could do without the plane ride. So, obnoxious as I can... Read More »
Ensign Exceeds Expectations, Yet Again

Ensign Exceeds Expectations, Yet Again

What’s in the water in San Juan Capistrano? The Ensign Group, which is based in the California town, just reported another impressive quarter with GAAP diluted record earnings per share of $0.86. That is an increase of 17.8% over the prior-year quarter. That excludes any revenues from the CARES Act Provider Relief Funds as well, so that improvement is the real deal. Given the success of the company’s decentralized structure, maybe we should be asking what’s in the water at each of Ensign’s properties.  Starting with occupancy, Ensign reported a 0.4% increase in its same store occupancy and a 1.6% increase in its transitional occupancy, both sequentially over the fourth quarter of 2020. For... Read More »