• Community First Solutions Acquires Again in Ohio

    Ziegler was engaged by Marquee Capital, the real estate company affiliated with Marcus Investments, LLC, the Marcus’ family office, in the sale of its seniors housing community in Mason, Ohio. Built in 2020, BrightStar Senior Living of Mason sits on 3.2 acres with 41 assisted living and memory care units. The community was well occupied at 90%,... Read More »
  • Joint Venture Acquires Nashville Active Adult Community

    An active adult community in Germantown, Tennessee, found a new owner thanks to the team at Newmark. Built in 2020, Avenida Watermarq is a 161-unit, Class-A active adult community in an affluent suburb of Nashville. There are one- and two-bedroom options averaging 919 square feet per unit. Occupancy was 87%. Inspired Real Estate Partners and GEM... Read More »
  • Institutional Owner Divests Ohio Facility

    Evans Senior Investments arranged the sale of a skilled nursing facility in Ohio on behalf of an institutional owner looking to exit the market. The facility comprises 88 beds and 20 independent living units, which served as a referral source for the nursing home. The buyer was a regional owner/operator that is actively expanding in Ohio. This is... Read More »
  • Strawberry Fields Completes Missouri SNF Portfolio Acquisition

    Strawberry Fields REIT, Inc. announced that it completed the acquisition of nine skilled nursing facilities comprising 686 beds in Missouri for $59 million, or $86,000 per bed. The REIT completed the acquisition using cash on hand and the issuance of approximately $2.0 million in OP Units of Strawberry Fields REIT LP to the seller. Eight of the... Read More »
  • Macquarie Asset Management Launches Health Wave Partners

    Macquarie Asset Management, which has over 35 years of experience in the real estate sector and a current network of 15 specialist operator investments globally, announced the launch of Health Wave Partners, a seniors housing platform aimed at targeting investments in modern seniors housing assets alongside established operators. The platform... Read More »
People on the Move

People on the Move

Early last year, we were surprised when Torey Riso told us he was leaving Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors, where he had been serving as President and CEO. He was brought in by the founders to add experience and his contacts to the growing firm. And grow it did. He figured he had done what was needed and it was a good time to leave. And then the pandemic hit, which we are sure altered his post-Blueprint plans.  It was just announced that he has joined Huron Consulting Group as a Managing Director specializing in healthcare services, but particularly the senior care market. He has helped small and mid-size operators scale their operations, and in particular will... Read More »
The Vaccine and Census

The Vaccine and Census

The COVID-19 vaccine was supposed to solve the census crisis brought on by the virus, but it is not happening fast enough. Optimism still exists, however. A lot has been riding on the success of the vaccine rollout, for everyone personally as well as for the entire senior care industry. But I am worried. When I hear that certain areas are running out of vaccines, when I hear that it may not be as effective with some of the new strains entering our country, when I hear from some providers that up to 50% of their staff have decided not to get vaccinated, well, what does that say about how and when we will recover from this devastating virus? There is some optimism out there, with one... Read More »
Jon Harder Gets Sentence Commuted

Jon Harder Gets Sentence Commuted

When was the last time anyone thought about Jon Harder, the founder and CEO of Sunwest Management who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the “misuse of investment funds during the real estate crisis” of 2007 to 2009? Well, that is an understatement if we ever saw one. At its height, Sunwest was one of the largest senior living companies in the country.  Back in the day, in the 2000s, when Mr. Harder was building his empire, overpaying for properties and then not properly managing them, people often wondered, “how is he doing it?” We heard from many brokers that the runner up bids were often 10% to 20% below what Sunwest was offering, not even close enough to ask anyone... Read More »
The Welltower Census Decline

The Welltower Census Decline

Welltower’s seniors housing partners continue to suffer from census declines and operating costs. We do appreciate the transparency that Welltower has been providing investors, but boy does it provide a window onto what is happening. In its monthly update, Welltower informed us that it suffered its worst monthly census decline since May. December’s SHOP occupancy fell 100 basis points from November, compared with -70 basis points in November and -170 basis points in May. With the pandemic spreading, census dropped another 85 basis points to just 75.3% as of January 15. Not looking forward to everyone’s fourth quarter earnings calls. Move-ins were the lowest in six months, and... Read More »
The Welltower Census Decline

Assisted Living Is Not A Nursing Home

The media continues to throw all seniors housing into the nursing home basket. It has to stop now, especially in this time of COVID. Here I go again, or better yet, here goes the uninformed New York Times again. In a story last week called, “Voices From Inside Nursing Homes,” I didn’t know whether these would be the voices of workers, or the residents who felt isolated with little social interaction. It was mostly neither. It was voices from children of residents, and in two cases, the resident; one “voice” was that of a staffer. The problem was that most were not voices from nursing homes. They were from a residential care facility, a seniors housing complex, an assisted living community,... Read More »
The Welltower Census Decline

Active Adult: Is Now The Time

The active adult market may fill a lot of voids in seniors housing, including price points and attracting younger “seniors.” Join our webinar as we dissect the market with industry leaders and see how these new properties are trading in the market. First of all, Happy New Year. It has got to be better than the last one. The coronavirus pandemic has certainly disrupted the senior living industry, at least for now. Are consumers going to be afraid of moving into a senior living community once the vaccine is widely distributed? Will cost become a more  important factor for choosing the type of community to move into? How about paying for what you only want or need? These will... Read More »