• 60 Seconds with Swett: Sticks and Bricks in ’26?

    The talk around new development is getting a lot more serious in the seniors housing industry, leading us to wonder if our 2024 prediction of “Sticks and Bricks in ‘26” may actually come true, somewhat. Back then, we may have thought that interest rates would have come down a bit more by now, but that the FOMO of getting involved in seniors... Read More »
  • Wyoming SNF Sale Sets New State Record

    There was a new record set for skilled nursing pricing in the state of Wyoming with the sale of Big Horn Rehabilitation and Care Center in Sheridan. Built in the 1960s, the facility features 128 beds and was 61% occupied. It was owned by a regional operator that was looking to recycle capital.  Before the marketing process, Evans Senior... Read More »
  • Owner/Operator Acquires Facility Out of Bankruptcy

    A senior care facility in Worcester, Massachusetts, sold as part of a bankruptcy process with the help of Patrick Burke and Toby Siefert of Senior Living Investment Brokerage. Built in 1970, Donna Kay Rest Home features 60 licensed beds in 31 units, providing a higher level of care and supervision than assisted living but at a lesser acuity than... Read More »
  • Civitas Sells Community to Clarion

    Hap Knowles and Nick Stahler of the Knapp-Stahler Group at Institutional Property Advisors announced that they led the sale of a seniors housing community in the Phoenix, Arizona MSA, to the fast-growing real estate investment firm Clarion Partners. The deal appears to be The Retreat at Alameda, a 110-unit assisted living/memory care community in... Read More »
  • Blueprint Handles Recapitalization

    Blueprint handled the recapitalization of Forest Hills Commons, a 2017-developed, 119-unit assisted living/memory care community in the Louisville, Kentucky MSA. A Louisville-based senior living owner/operator/developer engaged Blueprint in the third quarter of 2025 to begin the process. The asset demonstrated strong in-place performance and... Read More »
Brookdale’s December 2024 Occupancy Drops

Brookdale’s December 2024 Occupancy Drops

As we are now in full swing of the flu (and COVID) season, it is normal to expect that occupancy levels nationwide would decline slightly even though the seniors housing industry continues on its operational upswing. This is exactly what happened at Brookdale Senior Living. Consolidated weighted average occupancy in December declined sequentially by 20 basis points to 79.3%. This compares with 79.2% in September. In slightly better news, occupancy at the end of December was 80.5%, up 10 basis points from November, but still down 30 basis points from October and matching September’s level. However, Brookdale has now posted five straight months of month-end census above 80%, and barring any... Read More »
60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: First off, Happy New Year Everyone.

60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: First off, Happy New Year Everyone.

I suspect many of you think I am going to talk about the record setting M&A year in 2024 for long-term care, but I believe Ben has fully covered that and will continue to do so in the coming weeks as the stats are finalized. Plus, he now knows more than I do on the topic. No. I am going to talk about a book I just read, called The Big 100 by William Kole. All we have heard about for years, even decades, is the growth in the 80+ and 85+ population and what it will do for the seniors housing industry. This book is about the 100+ population, called centenarians, and super-centenarians, those who have attained 110 years and older. The centenarian group is the fastest growing age cohort,... Read More »
Brookdale’s December 2024 Occupancy Drops

Brookdale and Ventas, a Win-Win

Just weeks after Brookdale Senior Living walked away from its lease renewal with Ventas covering some 120 communities, the two companies came to an agreement that appears to be a win-win for both.  Brookdale will continue to lease 65 communities which average about 62 units each and represent 40% of the units in the original master lease. The initial cash rent on these will increase by 38% and will now be $64 million with 3% annual escalators. But for 2025, Brookdale will pay the contractual rent of $48 million on these. For the remainder, 44 communities will go into the Ventas SHOP portfolio with new operators, to be determined later. Annualized NOI for these after a 5% management... Read More »
Who Wins in Class Action Staffing Litigation

Who Wins in Class Action Staffing Litigation

The American Seniors Housing Association and Hanson Bridgett just came out with an “Industry Brief” on the settlement of a class action lawsuit called Heredia v. Sunrise Senior Living. The settlement was approved on December 3, but the lawsuit had been winding its way through the courts since 2017. Apparently, for these kinds of staffing lawsuits this is the longest time period recorded. The basis of the class action lawsuit was allegations of understaffing, with staffing levels unrelated to the care needs of residents, as well as allegations that representations by owners/operators to residents and prospective residents that sufficient staffing was in place were misleading. While we have... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: Cap Rates Coming Down?

60 Seconds with Swett: Cap Rates Coming Down?

Cap rate data has been difficult to measure in the last couple of years, due to a fast-changing capital costs environment, a relatively fast-changing operating environment and, frankly, a relative absence of true “cap rate deals” where the buyer was valuing the trailing set of financials, without any funny business. Now, we are seeing more “cap rate deals” and look forward to providing our industry averages, broken out by property type, quality, age and performance in our next Senior Care Acquisition Report.  Anecdotally, what we are hearing is that cap rates are compressing slightly, but in the grand scheme of things, are staying relatively high relative to the record (and some may say... Read More »
Brookdale’s December 2024 Occupancy Drops

Brookdale Senior Living Occupancy Sends Mixed Signals

Perhaps when Brookdale Senior Living can better focus on a smaller number of properties when its lease for 120 communities with Ventas ends at the end of next year, they will be able to push occupancy on the remaining portfolio. The company’s size will shrink by nearly 20% if the full lease termination goes through as disclosed last week, and we have to imagine that the Ventas properties require a lot of management time. Meanwhile, the company reported November’s occupancy, and while there was some good news, census levels still disappointed us at this point in the recovery from the pandemic. Investors, however, differed from our assessment, sending the share price up by 7.5% before ending... Read More »