


Skilled Nursing Price Drops
When the average price per bed for skilled nursing facilities drops, the consistency in that drop is unparalleled. Here is something to ponder. We know that after a nice five-year run-up, the average price paid per bed in the skilled nursing market dropped by 18% last year, according to our new statistics. That was obviously a significant plunge, especially since the average had doubled in the previous five years. So, I decided to go back and see what happened in other years since 2000 when there was a drop. It turns out there were four years when there was a price drop of any significance. These included 2003, 2008, 2011 and 2017. What is weird is that the decline in each of those four... Read More »
Marcus & Millichap Closes Milwaukee Deal
A senior care campus in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that has seen a number of transformations over the years, will soon see another, having recently traded hands with the help of Ray Giannini of Marcus & Millichap. Originally built in 1970 with 112 skilled nursing beds by a local family, the facility underwent a couple of expansions in 2005 and 2012, leaving it with 88 of the original SNF beds, 24 private subacute rehab units and 49 private assisted living units. Due to recent survey issues, occupancy had fallen across the campus to 84% at the SNF and to 83% for the assisted living, and both acuities also maintained majority-Medicaid censuses around 70%. After over 45 years of ownership, the... Read More »
Joint Venture Building Assisted Living In Bakersfield
Two companies are joining forces to build a brand-new assisted living/memory care community in Bakersfield, California, with the help of Aaron Rosenzweig, Jay Wagner, Sam Dylag and Alex Petrosian of Cushman & Wakefield. Situated on three and a half acres next to a newly constructed skilled nursing/sub-acute care facility, the to-be-built community will feature 44 assisted living and 24 memory care units on one story. It is the third ground-up development between the joint venture between real estate developer Blue Mountain Enterprises and California-focused operator Pragma Management. To fund it, the Cushman & Wakefield team arranged an $11.55 million construction loan, funded by... Read More »
SmartStop Shops In Seniors Housing For First Time
There is a new entrant in the seniors housing market. Coming from the self-storage industry, California-based SmartStop Asset Management just acquired three seniors housing communities in Utah through its private REIT, Strategic Student & Senior Housing Trust, marking its first acquisition in the space. Totaling 294 units, the portfolio is located in the Salt Lake City MSA, and includes a 119-unit/140-bed assisted living community, a 111-unit/136-bed AL community (with balconies or patios at each unit) and a 64-unit/78-bed AL property that also offers short-term/respite care. They are not new properties (built from 10 to 30 years ago) but they operated very well under previous... Read More »
Brookdale Blows Up
Talk about missed opportunities. For the past 12 to 18 months, or much longer depending on which “process” you were talking about, Brookdale Senior Living has been looking to do a strategic capital event, which everyone took to mean a sale of the company to the highest bidder. The problem has been the phrase “highest bidder,” as the price a bidder would be willing to pay kept falling throughout the process, and the longer the process went on, the lower Brookdale’s stock price fell, which resulted in lower bid prices, and the cycle just continued until the fiasco that unfolded yesterday. In the middle of the night, Brookdale issued a press release disclosing that they would hold their... Read More »
Marcus & Millichap Closes Montana M&A
We don’t see much Montana M&A, but Tony Cassie of Marcus & Millichap closed two skilled nursing transactions in Big Sky Country, plus one in Washington State. Both Montana facilities are located in Billings. The 161-bed facility was built in the 1960s, while the 150-bed facility was built in stages in 1964 and 1974. A private real estate investment firm and an operating partner stepped in to purchase the facilities from a national owner/operator for a combined $13.7 million, or $44,050 per bed. Mr. Cassie also sold a 105-bed skilled nursing facility in Renton, Washington (Seattle MSA) on behalf of a private individual owner. Built in 1969, the facility was purchased by a real... Read More »
Pathway to Michigan
Jeff Binder, Brad Clousing and Ryan Saul of Senior Living Investment Brokerage represented a public REIT in their divestment of a Grand Rapids, Michigan-area assisted living/memory care community as part of a broader repositioning effort with its existing tenant portfolio. Built in 2001, the community is located in the town of Kentwood, about 10 miles south of Grand Rapids. With 103 licensed beds in 81 units, the community was struggling, with just 58% occupancy at the time of marketing and a loss of about $100,000 on $2.52 million of revenues. The new owner, Illinois-based Pathway to Living (formerly Pathway Senior Living), plans to invest capital into the physical plant and add services... Read More »
Live Oak Bank Comes Alive In Seniors Housing Lending
After launching its senior care lending division and hiring Adam Sherman (most recently of Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors and before that of RED Capital Group) as the new division’s industry expert late last year, Live Oak Bank just provided its first loan to a seniors housing property. The bank (the second-largest SBA lender in the country) closed a $3.6 million SBA 7a construction loan for a private owner/operator to build a 24-unit memory care community in Springboro, Ohio (Cincinnati MSA). It came with a 24-month interest-only period and 26-year fully amortizing term. The bank is looking to grow this business in the seniors housing space, rather than the more-regulated... Read More »
Bad Flu Season, But That’s Not The Story
It is a horrific flu season, but it may be unfairly blamed for current seniors housing woes. So, we have all been hearing about this horrible flu season, especially with the unusual number of children’s deaths, including in my home town. But what I fear is that it will be blamed for more than its fair share of census problems in the senior care market. Granted, when the worst flu season in nearly a decade hits, it is bound to impact senior care communities, where the residents are much more frail than the population as a whole. But for some reason, this flu season is impacting seniors housing communities, and companies, in very different ways. Believe it or not, some have seen little to no... Read More »