• 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 »

Mike Pardoll’s Got Georgia On His Mind

Mike Pardoll of Marcus & Millichap has been especially prolific of late in the state of Georgia, closing three skilled nursing sales there this summer. A group of Georgia investors accounted for two of the deals, purchasing two facilities from a not-for-profit owner. Located in Cochran, one of the facilities was built in 1966 with 75 beds. It is 93% occupied, with a 74% Medicaid, 19% private pay and 7% Medicare census, and operated at a 15% margin. It sold for $5.7 million, or $76,000 per bed, with a 12.6% cap rate. The other facility, in Thomaston, was built in 1966 and 1986. Based on 106 total beds, it is 80% occupied, with an 81% Medicaid, 11% private pay and 8% Medicare census, and... Read More »

Ridge Care Senior Living Looking To Grow In South Carolina

Already a force in West Virginia and North Carolina, Ridge Care Senior Living is expanding its assisted living/memory care portfolio into South Carolina with a brand-new 100-unit (60 AL and 40 MC) community in the beach town of Pawleys Island. Expected to open in Summer 2018, the community is expected to cost around $20.5 million, or over $200,000 per unit, to develop, which is close to the average for the regional cost for like-communities of $208,000 per unit, according to our in-house database. SunTrust Bank, through its Aging Services practice, provided an $11.3 million loan to fund the construction. Ridge Care, which currently manages 13 senior living communities on behalf of  a small... Read More »

Skilled Nursing Sales Skyrocket in September

The start of September saw a large number of skilled nursing acquisitions announced, mostly at lower prices, with the exception of CareTrust REIT’s purchase of seven SNFs in Idaho for $65.5 million, or $114,700 per bed. Another deal, facilitated by Ben Firestone and Michael Segal of Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors, didn’t feature a price but involved an aging facility with room for improvement. Built in 1974, the multistory facility is the largest SNF in the area, with 297 licensed beds. However, it doesn’t operate at capacity, and while the lobby, first floor and second floor, which have short-term rehab and therapy services, have been renovated in the past few years, the upper... Read More »
Ensign Executes In Arizona

Ensign Executes In Arizona

Continuing its strategy to own more of the real estate in its portfolio of over 200 healthcare properties, The Ensign Group bought two skilled nursing facilities in Arizona for an undisclosed price. Included in the purchase is an 88-bed facility in Mesa (Phoenix MSA) and a 115-bed facility in Tucson, with a combined occupancy of about 68%. Ensign leased the facilities to its Arizona-based operating subsidiary, Bandera Healthcare, Inc. Including the operations and, of course, the real estate, the acquisition is expected to be accretive to 2018 earnings. Now, Ensign owns the real estate at 63 of the 229 facilities in its portfolio, but we imagine that 27.5% ratio will keep rising. That is... Read More »
Change Will Be Coming To Seniors Housing

Change Will Be Coming To Seniors Housing

What if there is more to the decline in seniors housing occupancy than just new development? Sometimes it seems I just think too much about this industry. For instance, it has been bothering me that occupancy continues to decline, even in quarters when it should be rising. New development has been having an impact, of course. But what if there is something else going on, or maybe multiple things? A lot is going to happen, and change, between now and when the first boomer turns 80 in 2026, and we may have to wait until they are 85 or even older for the “big impact.” Everyone has been focused on this demographic, and there is the often discussed thought of, what if we increase penetration... Read More »
A Couple of SNF Sales For Senior Living Investment Brokerage

A Couple of SNF Sales For Senior Living Investment Brokerage

Senior Living Investment Brokerage notched a few more sales in its belt this month, including two skilled nursing deals and an assisted living acquisition. First, Matthew Alley headed to the Mexican border in the town of Weslaco, Texas to close the sale of a 147-bed skilled nursing facility. Built in 1967 and 1996, the facility was just 78% occupied and operated at an 8% margin on about $7.85 million of revenues. A Dallas-Fort Worth area-based owner/operator decided to sell the asset to another DFW-area real estate owner for $5.25 million, or $37,500 per bed. An operator with other skilled nursing facilities in the state will take over management. Nick Cacciabando and Jeff Binder of Senior... Read More »

Cushman & Wakefield Does It Again

Cushman & Wakefield’s Senior Housing Capital Markets Group has sold another CCRC (LPC), this time in Arden, North Carolina. Known as Ardenwoods, it is a type “C” entrance-fee community that is located on 48 acres about 12 miles south of Ashville. The seller was a 50-50 joint venture between affiliates of HJ Sims and Life Care Services (LCS), which purchased the community in 2002. It consists of 96 independent living units and 48 assisted living units, and has been managed by LCS since 2002. The buyer was Retirement Living Associates, Inc., which is controlled by David Ammons, a local owner/ manager with seven other developments or communities in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia... Read More »

CareTrust REIT Closes Three SNF Deals

CareTrust REIT clearly didn’t get that “Labor Day” is supposed to be a day of relaxation, not of, well, labor. Until the start of September, CareTrust had only announced four transactions, compared with the 13 announced in all of 2016. But the REIT ended summer with a bang, announcing three acquisitions comprising 13 total skilled nursing facilities and 1,232 total beds. CareTrust made its biggest splash in the Pacific Northwest and doubled its investment in two deals with its operating partner Cascadia Healthcare, LLC. The first transaction involved seven skilled nursing facilities and 571 beds located throughout Idaho, although the deal has only partially closed so far. It is supposed to... Read More »
Private Equity Taking Center Stage

Private Equity Taking Center Stage

In every investment cycle, there are different factors that impact valuations and transaction volume. In the seniors housing and care acquisition market, there have been periods when public REITs came to dominate acquisition activity, then there were nontraded REITs that took center stage (at least for smaller transactions), and there has been the private equity (PE) market, which has very different investment criteria and time horizons than many of the other buyers. The two largest acquisitions by private equity firms in the seniors housing and care market occurred about 10 years ago. This was The Carlyle Group’s acquisition of Manor Care for $6.3 billion and The Fortress Group’s purchase... Read More »

Myers and Jandris Close Out the Summer in Style

Mark Myers and Josh Jandris of IPA Seniors Housing impressed in the Southeast this month, closing a couple of single-SNF transactions. With an assist from Ryan Fleming, Myers and Jandris first helped a Northeast-based regional owner on its way to divesting itself completely from Kentucky, and from the SNF market as well, with the sale of its facility in Covington (Cincinnati MSA). The facility, with about 80 beds, is one of seven other tenants that operate out of a 100-year old former hospital. It generates just over $800,000 in annual NOI, or about $9,760 per bed, which is slightly above the market average of the last few years, based on sold properties. But the buyer, also a... Read More »