• In Memoriam: Doug Korey

    We just heard the unfortunate news that our friend and colleague Doug Korey passed away last week. He had been battling cancer for a while but always put a brave face on his journey. We have known Doug since he got into the senior care industry more than 25 years ago. We served on panels with him and had many off-the-record conversations about... Read More »
  • Ventas Acquires Class-A Portfolio in Texas and Louisiana

    Ventas acquired five Class-A, high-performing seniors housing communities in Texas and Louisiana with upside potential. Built between 2015 and 2019, the communities comprise approximately 90 units each, with a total of 67 independent living, 201 assisted living and 179 memory care units in the Houston and Dallas, Texas, markets and the Lafayette... Read More »
  • 60 Seconds with Swett: An Update to Our Valuation Statistics

    The deal dynamics of 2025 appear to have changed very little, with a majority of transactions featuring value-add properties, a slowly increasing share of stabilized, Class-A properties being sold, steady improvements to the capital markets and liquidity and cap rates that have moved only slightly downwards. Taking all of those factors into... Read More »
  • PACS Group Gets Breathing Room After Defaults

    PACS Group (which operates 314 communities across 17 states), Truist Bank, and PACS’ lenders entered into forbearance agreements on Wednesday, August 13. This is the fifth change to the agreements. Deficiencies in financial reporting across multiple periods resulted in defaults under its master lease with Omega Healthcare Investors, which... Read More »
  • Joint Venture Acquires Class-A Arizona IL/AL Community

    Principal Asset Management (Principal Financial Group’s investment management division) and IRA Capital announced the acquisition of American Groves, a Class-A seniors housing community in Gilbert, Arizona, for $44.5 million, or $500,000 per unit. The sale was facilitated by JLL Capital Markets on behalf of the seller, American Care Concepts and... Read More »

Sabra Health Care REIT Buys Again

Fresh off the heels of its $3.0 billion merger with Care Capital Properties in August and its $430 million joint venture acquisition of most of Enlivant’s assisted living properties for an investment of $371 million, Sabra Health Care REIT announced a $430 million acquisition of 24 skilled nursing facilities with 2,216 beds, or a price of $194,000 per bed. That price will certainly help bolster what has been a mostly down year for SNF pricing, where we have seen more below-average facilities sold than in the previous two years. But this portfolio is certainly not average, with a 92% occupancy rate and a 59% skilled mix, which is huge for a portfolio of this size. In addition, 21 of the... Read More »
Ziegler Arranges Bond Financing For First Vermont CCRC

Ziegler Arranges Bond Financing For First Vermont CCRC

When Vermont’s first CCRC, Wake Robin, was ready to expand its services and its campus to accommodate for its growing demand, it turned to Ziegler to arrange a $67.1 million bond financing to fund the project. Situated near Lake Champlain in a wooded 123-acre campus with many walking trails, the not-for-profit community got its start in 1984 and currently features 212 independent living, 51 skilled nursing and 31 residential care units. However, strong demand led the owners to expand each of the CCRC’s offerings, adding 38 new independent living units, 10 residential care units, six skilled nursing units, in addition to renovating the common areas and the existing skilled nursing facility.... Read More »

KeyBank, Kindred and BlueMountain

BlueMountain Capital Management has been steadily working to close its large acquisition of 96 skilled nursing facilities from Kindred Healthcare (a deal valued at approximately $700 million). For its latest tranche of closings, the firm received $128 million in acquisition financing originated by Grant Saunders and Peter Trazzera of KeyBank Real Estate Capital’s Healthcare Mortgage Group. The term loan funded the purchase of 13 facilities including nine in California, three in Massachusetts (that are nearing approval) and one in Nashua, New Hampshire. Of the California facilities, five are located in San Francisco, plus one each in Salinas, Stockton, Walnut Creek and Livermore. This marks... Read More »
REIT Financing: RIDEA vs. Sale/Leaseback

REIT Financing: RIDEA vs. Sale/Leaseback

During our recent webinar on REIT financing where we discussed the pros and cons of using the more traditional sale/leaseback structure, we posed a few questions to the audience. Let’s just say, the answers surprised us. The first was whether, if choosing REIT financing today, they would prefer the traditional sale/leaseback structure which involves fixed lease payments that increase every year, or the newer RIDEA structure, where they enter into a joint venture with the REIT and manage the properties for the joint venture. We assumed that most people would prefer the RIDEA structure given the nature of the sale/leaseback structure with 2.5% to 3.0% annual escalators. Wrong. A slight... Read More »
CBRE Finances Midwest Portfolio Purchase

CBRE Finances Midwest Portfolio Purchase

A brand-new portfolio of four assisted living/memory care communities gained a new owner, thanks to acquisition financing arranged by Aron Will of CBRE. These communities, featuring 285 assisted living and 155 memory care units, opened in 2016 and 2017 in the Chicago and Kansas City MSAs. And being the highest quality communities in their respective submarkets, they were filling fast, with a favorable lease-up trajectory. Chicago-based CA Ventures developed them and will also maintain an ownership interest in the portfolio, acquiring the communities in a joint venture with a global investment manager. Mr. Will secured a non-recourse, floating-rate loan, with a three-year term and three... Read More »
Grandbridge Real Estate Capital Closes Kansas City Financing

Grandbridge Real Estate Capital Closes Kansas City Financing

Grandbridge Real Estate Capital’s Seniors Housing and Healthcare Finance Group announced its latest closing, facilitating a $14.5 million first mortgage for a 163-unit seniors housing community in Kansas City, Missouri. An insurance company provided the loan, which came with a 20-year term and a fixed rate. Originally built in 2014, the community in question followed up on a successful lease-up by breaking ground in 2016 on an $18 million, 96-bed expansion of short-term rehab, long-term care and memory care services. It is owned by the McCrite family, which also owns senior living community in Topeka, Kansas. Richard Thomas and Meredith Davis, along with Joseph Platt out of Grandbridge’s... Read More »
Skilled Nursing Facility Irma Fall-Out

Skilled Nursing Facility Irma Fall-Out

Eight horrible deaths in one skilled nursing facility should not result in new regulations. By now we have all heard about the disaster at the skilled nursing facility in Hollywood, Florida where eight residents died from the heat during Hurricane Irma. It never should have happened, and we all have to wonder what the staff was thinking when inside temperatures soared and vital signs hit the danger zone. What we should have expected is politicians, regulators and other groups demanding more staffing so something like this does not happen again. While I agree that this should never happen again, I don’t agree that staffing levels should be re-evaluated as a result of one horrible event. And... Read More »

Sabra Health Care REIT Invests In Enlivant

Sabra Health Care REIT has entered into an agreement to invest in a 49% interest in a joint venture that will own 183 senior living properties operated by Enlivant with the remaining 51% held by TPG Real Estate, which currently owns 100%. They have valued the transaction at $1.62 billion, or $195,600 per unit, with Sabra’s equity investment coming to $371 million. In 2013, TPG bought the former Assisted Living Concepts (ALC) for $458.5 million, or about $58,000 per owned unit, when occupancy had dropped to 60% after the company decided to get out of the Medicaid business. TPG changed the name to Enlivant, partly because there had been a few too many scandals associated with the previous... Read More »
Buyers See Potential In Wildwood Independent Living Community

Buyers See Potential In Wildwood Independent Living Community

Joint venture partners Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, REDICO and American House Senior Living Communities clearly eyed potential at a newly built independent living community in Wildwood, Florida (near The Villages). Built in 2013, the community features 173 units ranging in size from 500 to 1,090 square feet. Based on a 30% operating margin on approximately $5.3 million of in-place revenues, and occupancy of 90% at the time of sale, we have estimated the cap rate to be about 5.2%.  Both occupancy and margins could be improved, with a good amount of hard work, of course. Since assuming management, American House has added private duty personal care services through Allegiance... Read More »
CBRE Finances Midwest Portfolio Purchase

Gryphon Senior Living Group Gets HUD Refinance

Three years after acquiring a 40-unit Georgia assisted living community in receivership, Gryphon Senior Living Group is refinancing it through HUD. Built in 2000 as a licensed personal care facility in the town of Union City, an Atlanta suburb, this community features nine units of memory care and 31 assisted living units, with 50 total beds. It was operating near breakeven with 77% occupancy in 2014 and was in receivership at the time of closing. GlassRatner was the court-appointed receiver on behalf of a special lender in South Carolina, and Oak Senior Living was managing the property throughout the process. Chicago-based owner/operator Gryphon Senior Living Group then emerged as the... Read More »