• 60 Seconds with Swett: The Republican Budget and Medicaid Cuts

    There will be significant political interest in what happens to Medicaid funding as Republicans work to pass a budget and tax bill with their very slim majority. Touching entitlements remains politically risky, and the party is divided on whether any Medicaid cuts would be acceptable heading into an election cycle. At this stage, per-capita caps... Read More »
  • Sonida Senior Living Continues Upward Trend

    We are at the end of the first quarter 2025 earning roll call, and Sonida Senior Living posted another solid quarter. Weighted average occupancy for its same-community portfolio (56 communities) increased by 100 basis points year over year to 86.8%, which is at the top end of many of its competitors. In addition, same-community RevPOR increased... Read More »
  • Regional Owner/Operator Purchases Turnaround SNF

    Evans Senior Investments was engaged by a regional owner in a partnership with the University of Michigan Health-West Hospital to facilitate the sale of a skilled nursing facility in Wyoming, Michigan. Opened nearly 10 years ago, Healthbridge Post Acute comprises 65 beds and was experiencing operational challenges, including an annual net... Read More »
  • Family Owner Divests CCRC to Not-For-Profit

    Senwell Senior Investment Advisors sold a family-owned/operated CCRC in Maumee, Ohio, to a not-for-profit organization. The community had been in the seller’s family for 75 years, but they are divesting to enter retirement. Established in 1949, Elizabeth Scott Community spans 51 acres and offers independent living, assisted living, memory care... Read More »
  • HUD-Backed Seniors Housing Community Opens on Long Island

    A HUD-financed seniors housing project has celebrated its grand opening in Bay Shore, New York. Netherbay at Bay Shore is a state-of-the-art assisted living/memory care community located at the historic Gulden family’s summer homestead on Long Island. It features 72 units and is operated by Meridian Senior Living. Greystone’s Lisa Fischman had... Read More »
HUD Lean Volume Hits an All-Time High

HUD Lean Volume Hits an All-Time High

The HUD LEAN program had quite a fiscal year 2019, topping $3.7 billion in transaction volume across 288 transactions. The transaction number may be 1% down from the 292 closings in FY2018, but the dollar volume is up 3.6% to reach a record high for the program. HUD used to be the “lender of last resort,” but given the attractiveness of the debt (where else can you get a sub-3% rate for a 30+ year term?), it’s no wonder the program is growing like gangbusters. ORIX Real Estate Capital/Lancaster Pollard put their combined resources to work this year, closing an impressive $903.8 million in HUD closings, with 78 total transactions. That kind of dollar volume hasn’t been seen before, even... Read More »
NorthMarq Closes Construction Financing in Cincinnati

NorthMarq Closes Construction Financing in Cincinnati

When at first you don’t succeed, try again. That was one borrower’s motto when a financing placement attempt fell through with one lender, so they decided to go to Noah Juran of NorthMarq to get the deal done. To fund the construction of a senior care facility on the borrower’s existing senior living campus in Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Juran secured an $18.2 million construction loan through Stearns Bank, plus $5.5 million of equity from an undisclosed source. The debt, which features a three-year, interest-only term, comes in at 64% loan-to-cost. That puts the development cost at $28.4 million, or $346,300 per unit. Set to open in either late-2020 or early-2021, the project will include a mix... Read More »
The “Recession-Resistant” Aura of Assisted Living

The “Recession-Resistant” Aura of Assisted Living

There is a lot of chatter about the potential for a recession hitting the U.S. economy soon. You’ve seen the metrics on slowing growth, both domestically and even more so globally, and the impact that tariffs have had on supply chains, manufacturing and investment. And the uncertainty of the 2020 election will not help growth in the next year, barring some major trade agreement with China. But if we do indeed plunge into recession, what will the impact be on assisted living? The sector was famously “recession-resistant” in the last downturn, and since nobody is predicting a financial calamity like that in the next few years, that should bode well. Assisted living values have been rising... Read More »
Capital Senior Ventures Acquires Final Kindred Skilled Nursing Facility

Capital Senior Ventures Acquires Final Kindred Skilled Nursing Facility

Capital Senior Ventures made a bet on the Las Vegas skilled nursing market, acquiring a state-of-the-art skilled nursing facility in the city for an undisclosed price. Built in 2015, the facility is the last SNF owned by Kindred Healthcare. It consists of 160 beds, including 118 private and 21 semiprivate rooms. In addition to there being private showers in all patient bathrooms, there were some units with bariatric lifts as well. Other amenities include multiple dining areas, a movie theater, four therapy gyms, outdoor courtyards and a transitional home therapy suite. Sounds like a Marriott we would want to move into. Plus, the facility is ideally located next to Spring Valley Medical... Read More »
Oxford Living Acquires Another Ontario Portfolio

Oxford Living Acquires Another Ontario Portfolio

Institutional investment and development firm Oxford Capital Group, together with its joint venture partner, has made a large investment in the Canadian seniors housing sector, acquiring a portfolio of six private pay communities located throughout Ontario. These communities provide both independent living and supportive living services throughout the 645 total units. They are located in Toronto, Fort Erie, Niagara Falls, Kitchener and Guelph, and join Oxford’s nine other communities in Ontario (all acquired in just the last nine months). Oxford made the acquisition through its affiliate Oxford Living in a joint venture with New York-based insurance and investment firm, Starr Insurance... Read More »
Independent Living Tower Breaks Ground in Seattle

Independent Living Tower Breaks Ground in Seattle

Perhaps as a sign of the strength of both the CCRC and independent living markets, a CCRC in Seattle, Washington just broke ground on a 21-story, 77-unit independent living tower on its existing campus in the First Hill neighborhood. Owned by Transforming Age, a national not-for-profit with existing communities in Washington, Minnesota and Nebraska, it announced that the project is already 70% presold two years before the expected 2021 opening. The tower will include a mix of one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, as well as penthouse apartments. There will also be a 240-seat performing arts center, full-service spa, bar, café and a club room with panoramic views of Puget Sound and the Olympic... Read More »
Therapy and PDPM

Therapy and PDPM

We are now one week into the new PDPM reimbursement system, and already therapist layoffs have begun. Well, we are just one week into the new Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) for Medicare reimbursement for skilled nursing facilities, and already the therapist layoffs have begun. Why? Because providers are no longer paid for the amount of therapy they provide patients. The new payments will be based on patient needs, especially for higher acuity patients. So, here is my question. If the patient profile has not changed from September to October, why were patients provided with a certain number of therapy hours in September if they actually did not need that much therapy, or if the extra... Read More »
Juniper Communities Shifts Focus from Florida

Juniper Communities Shifts Focus from Florida

Juniper Communities has completely exited the state of Florida, with Bradley Clousing and Jeff Binder of Senior Living Investment Brokerage facilitating the final sale. With the transaction, the assisted living/memory care provider will now focus on its established Northeast and Colorado markets, where it has eight communities in Pennsylvania, two in New Jersey and five in the Centennial State. The Naples community was originally built in 2000, which in the heavily developed southwestern Florida market is certainly on the older side. Age isn’t everything, but it does usually affect the rents you can charge, which has a cascading effect if any fixed or variable costs were to suddenly shoot... Read More »
Greystone Announces Three Financings and One New Hire

Greystone Announces Three Financings and One New Hire

Running the agency gamut at the start of October, Greystone announced three financings it closed through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and HUD. First up, the firm refinanced an independent living community in Pearland, Texas (Houston MSA) with a 10-year, $37 million Fannie Mae loan. Cary Tremper originated the transaction on behalf of Integrated Real Estate Group (IREG) and their operating affiliate Integrated Senior Lifestyles. IREG opened the community in 2017, with 214 units that include one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom options, plus eight villas. There are also a host of a la carte services and amenities. Development cost reached $35.1 million, or $158,100 per unit. Then, Greystone... Read More »
Newmark Knight Frank Closes Three Varied Transactions

Newmark Knight Frank Closes Three Varied Transactions

The Newmark Knight Frank debt origination team has been hard at work this year, closing $1.6 billion in new financings so far this year. Heidi Brunet, who joined this April, and Chris Johnson handled a Freddie Mac financing for a newly built independent living community in Aurora, Colorado. The 10-year, fixed-rate, pre-stabilized loan totaled $43 million. Ms. Brunet and Laura McDonald of Protective Life also refinanced two assisted living/memory care communities in Virginia and Pennsylvania with a $43 million loan. An experienced owner/operator opened these communities in June of this year. Finally, Sarah Anderson of Newmark arranged acquisition financing for two AL/MC communities in Boca... Read More »