• AlerisLife Is Shutting Down

    AlerisLife is in the process of winding down its business. The company had struggled for years as a publicly traded company (previously known as Five Star Senior Living) with chronic operational and governance issues, posting repeated net losses, negative EBITDA, low operating margins, and underperforming owned communities. Despite some gains and... Read More »
  • SLIB Scores SNF Sale to Strawberry Fields REIT

    Ryan Saul, Jeff Binder and Lucas Doll of Senior Living Investment Brokerage arranged the sale of a 124-bed senior care campus in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, to Strawberry Fields REIT. The SLIB team represented a regional owner/operator that was exiting the state of Missouri to focus on communities closer to its corporate headquarters.  Cedargate... Read More »
  • SLIB Closes Two Other Midwest Transactions

    No rest for Senior Living Investment Brokerage on Labor Day, apparently, as the firm closed a couple of Midwest closings on the heels of its Missouri sale to Strawberry Fields REIT. Nick Cacciabando and Jeff Binder first returned to a familiar place, in Junction City, Kansas, to sell a senior care community. This property was Cacciabando’s first... Read More »
  • DMK Development Group Divests to Town Lane

    DMK Development Group has had a busy summer with two divestments and several developments. After divesting a four-asset seniors housing portfolio in Kentucky to American Healthcare REIT for $65.3 million, or $206,600 per unit, in July, DMK sold a 167-unit seniors housing community in Venice, Florida. The buyer was New York-based real estate... Read More »
  • Pines Senior Living Rescues Vacant AL Community

    A vacant assisted living community in Birmingham, Alabama, found a new owner thanks to Amy Sitzman and Giancarlo Riso of Blueprint. Originally built in 1999, the community faced significant physical plant needs and operational challenges that rendered it unviable, without substantial capital investment. So, ownership decided to shutter it and... 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 Senior Living Occupancy Sends Mixed Signals

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 »
Brookdale Senior Living Occupancy Sends Mixed Signals

Brookdale vs. Ventas

They took it to the wire, but Brookdale Senior Living decided not to renew its leases with Ventas covering 120 communities in a Master Lease that expires December 31, 2025. The deadline was November 30, and they let it pass. Ventas will still collect $113.6 million in lease payments next year, and all parties have previously stated that the properties have been covering the lease payments in full. Even though it was an all or nothing renewal option, we were hoping that the two sides would come to an agreement to perhaps split up the portfolio. The problem is that both sides would have wanted to keep the better performing properties. Now, Brookdale no longer has the right to extend the... Read More »
Brookdale Senior Living Occupancy Sends Mixed Signals

Change Coming To Life Care Centers of America

What is happening at Life Care Centers of America is a great example of how not to establish a succession plan, especially when it involves one of the largest privately owned senior care companies in the country. The company was founded by Forest Preston nearly 75 years ago, and he remains the CEO and sole shareholder of a company that is purported to be worth close to $1.2 billion. But he really has not run it for years. I sat down with Forest about 15 years ago, when he agreed to do a long interview with me about his entire life and career. I could tell something was off, and he had a “minder” constantly by his side. But he was agreeable to do this with me, and seemed to look forward to... Read More »
Sonida Senior Living Keeps Pushing Census

Sonida Senior Living Keeps Pushing Census

We have been impressed by Sonida Senior Living management’s ability to get out of its census, cash flow and balance sheet difficulties over the past year. After some acquisitions this year, the company now operates 93 senior living communities, most of them owned.  In the third quarter, same-community occupancy for 61 communities increased by 210 basis points year over year to 87.0%. That is well ahead of many other operators, as well as higher than the NIC MAP census averages. They are well on their way to hitting the elusive goal of 90% occupancy. Speaking of 90% occupancy, management believes that when they reach it for their same-community portfolio, the NOI margin for these... Read More »