• NHI and National HealthCare Corporation Ending Master Lease

    In a move to concentrate its portfolio on private pay seniors housing, National Health Investors divested a large skilled nursing portfolio for $560 million, before estimated transaction costs between $6 million and $8 million. The buyer was the current lessee, National HealthCare Corporation, whose legacy master lease was established in 1991 and... Read More »
  • Seniors Housing Communities Sell in Southwest Florida

    Berkadia has announced a couple of closings in southwest Florida. First, Brooks Minford headed to the Tampa, Florida area to sell a 138-unit assisted living/memory care community on behalf of a local developer that was looking to exit the seniors housing business. They had built Tessera of Brandon in 2017 to feature a mix of 98 assisted living... Read More »
  • Global Investment Firm Re-Enters the Senior Care Industry

    Global alternative investment firm Investcorp has re-entered the seniors housing sphere after its exit in 2008. The company has acquired three communities in Massachusetts, California, and New York, all within a short period.  The Massachusetts community is in Boston, and it offers both independent living and affordable seniors housing... Read More »
  • Investor Enters Seniors Housing Sector

    Stone Brook Assisted Living in the Dallas, Texas MSA, has traded hands from a single-community owner/operator to a regionally-based investor. The seller was looking to enter retirement, and the investor wanted to make their first investment in the seniors housing space. Both seller and buyer agreed to pause the process in Fall 2025 to allow the... Read More »
  • Public Company Divests in Arizona

    A publicly traded company focused on seniors housing recently divested a community in Mesa, Arizona. The asset features 68 assisted living and memory care units, and offered meaningful upside potential. Amy Sitzman, Kyle Hallion and Jake Rice of Blueprint handled the deal, which saw a competitive process with multiple offers from groups looking... Read More »
Big Is Not Always Better, But Capital Structure Counts

Big Is Not Always Better, But Capital Structure Counts

Two looming hospital system mergers will create the largest health systems in the country. I assume most of you have heard about the two potential not-for-profit hospital system mergers that will create the largest systems in the country, larger than even HCA, the biggest for-profit hospital company. In one way, this bothers me because with one of them, the combined entity will have 191 hospitals, plus all the ancillary businesses. I just don’t understand how that can be run efficiently. The for-profit chains did their own large mergers, and a few of them are suffering the results and shedding hospitals to pay down debt. But there is one big difference with not-for-profit mergers, and that... Read More »
Big Is Not Always Better, But Capital Structure Counts

Investing In The Seniors Housing Sector

There are a lot of reasons to invest in seniors housing, but now some people are making up numbers to bolster the case. I realize there is a lot of general excitement about investing in the seniors housing sector. And there should be, despite the current headwinds. The population is aging, the quality of the properties is at its highest, the choices for consumers are wider than ever before. But what really gets me is when people start exploiting the situation and simply fabricate numbers to make their investment case. Take the case of a relatively new retail investment fund investing in seniors housing development and acquisitions. In one of their promotional pieces, they stated that the... Read More »
Private Evening in NYC

Private Evening in NYC

Members of the American Seniors Housing Association and subscribers to The SeniorCare Investor gathered in New York City on the night of the Rockefeller Center tree lighting in an intimate setting at The Penn Club to hear what Rick Atlas (Atria Senior Living), David Reis (Senior Care Development) and Scott Stewart (Capitol Senior Housing) had to say about investing in seniors housing today. While all three were very bullish on the future of the seniors housing business and long-term investment values, there were certainly differences of opinion as to where they see strength. For example, David Reis stated that not only is the CCRC model alive and well, but several of his CCRCs are... Read More »
Big Is Not Always Better, But Capital Structure Counts

Senior Housing Innovation Coming Your Way

As the boomers age, and look at alternatives for housing, many seem to be popping up. There has been a lot of noise in the media about the hot new living arrangements for the elderly, or more specifically, the boomers who are soon to be the elderly. Whether it is co-living arrangements in urban environments or Bill (Green House) Thomas’ new idea called a Minka tiny house, which is about 325 to 400 square feet and is modular, or the new active adult communities being developed as 100 to 200-unit apartment buildings for the pre-retirement housing crowd, all these concepts may be giving senior living providers the jitters. They shouldn’t. As far as I can tell, these are all targeting a... Read More »
National Healthcare Corporation Holding Its Own

National Healthcare Corporation Holding Its Own

With all the media attention on financial problems within the skilled nursing sector (and we are guilty of this as well), there are some companies which are doing okay in this environment. One is National HealthCare Corporation, a publicly traded company that keeps very quiet but, with a market cap of $989 million, is one of the largest public senior care companies. For the three months ended September 30, 2017, its average Medicare rate has increased by $6.00 to $459.63 year over year, while its Medicare patient days increased marginally. Meanwhile, it managed care average daily rate (which we assume to be mostly Medicare Advantage) remained flat while the total managed care patient days... Read More »
Big Is Not Always Better, But Capital Structure Counts

AARP and Safe Nursing Homes

AARP, not usually a friend of the skilled nursing sector, thinks that nurses on duty 24/7 will solve the quality of care problems. In case you are not a member of AARP, like I am, the cover story in their November Bulletin was called, “How Safe Are Our Nursing Homes?” The story did an overview of the skilled nursing industry, including some of the recent rule changes. But it highlighted what didn’t change, such as not addressing the need for staffing increases. The article blamed staffing, or the shortage of staffing, for most of the woes confronting the skilled nursing sector. The solution? Mandate having at least one nurse on staff 27/7. Great idea, but 1) where are you going to find... Read More »