• 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 »
Berkadia’s HUD Bonanza

Berkadia’s HUD Bonanza

Berkadia announced another tranche of closings with more than $92.7 million in financing for nine seniors housing communities in four states. Steve Muth and Ed Williams first helped finance the acquisition of a 78-unit assisted living community in Great Falls, Montana, with a $12.6 million loan provided to a Northwest-based owner/operator. The non-recourse loan featured a 12-month, interest-only term. The community had sustained a stable occupancy rate over the past year, and Berkadia plans to submit a HUD application shortly after the closing. The borrower had previously collaborated with Berkadia on a similar-sized deal in late 2023. Back to HUD, Williams also obtained a $16.4 million... Read More »
Two Owner/Operators Acquire SNFs

Two Owner/Operators Acquire SNFs

Forest Healthcare Properties closed two separate transactions in Massachusetts and New York in September. Jeffrey Vegh and Joe Schiff handled the transactions.  First, Vegh and Schiff facilitated the sale of a skilled nursing portfolio in the Boston, Massachusetts MSA, which has attractive new reimbursement rates. The portfolio comprises three assets with 283 beds and has an average age of 45 years. The facilities were performing well, with an average occupancy rate of 85%. There were multiple sellers, and the ultimate buyer is a new owner/operator entering the state for the first time through this acquisition. The buyer’s portfolio comprises additional facilities in Michigan. ... Read More »
Harrison Street and Brightview Expand Relationship

Harrison Street and Brightview Expand Relationship

Harrison Street has acquired five seniors housing communities in a joint venture with Brightview Senior Living, from Brightview itself, as part of the pair’s ongoing partnership. Brightview will continue to manage the communities. The purchase price was not disclosed, but we believe they commanded strong per-unit values.  These recently constructed communities (in the last 10 years, at least) comprise 743 independent living, assisted living and memory care units throughout Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, in affluent and smaller markets with high barriers to entry. They have an average occupancy rate of 94%, and Brightview has a history of building,... Read More »
Retirement Unlimited President Gone 

Retirement Unlimited President Gone 

Last week, Retirement Unlimited Inc. (RUI), announced that its President, Doris-Ellie Sullivan, had stepped down “to pursue other opportunities.” That is usually a signal that the person did not leave without getting pushed out. Given what we heard about the poor performance of the company since its acquisition of Brandywine Living, we have to believe that it finally caught up to her. In late 2023, RUI purchased the Brandywine Living management company, which nearly doubled the number of communities operated by RUI to more than 70. Welltower (NYSE: WELL) owned the real estate of the Brandywine portfolio. Brandywine operated very high-end assisted living communities in top markets in New... Read More »
Brookdale Reports Highest Occupancy Since March 2021

Brookdale Reports Highest Occupancy Since March 2021

While we would hope that seniors housing companies are reporting their highest occupancy levels since the bottom of the COVID market in March 2021, Brookdale Senior Living did it in pretty good fashion. Brookdale finally topped 80% in month-end occupancy for August, reaching 80.4%, or a 50 basis-point increase over July. It also represented a 110-basis point increase from a year ago. Weighted average occupancy reached 78.9% in August, a 30-basis point sequential increase and a 130-basis point increase year over year. We would expect solid census increases in the traditionally strong third quarter, so this was not a surprise. But they will have to maintain these improvements through the... Read More »
Insignia Divests Its Last US Senior Living Asset

Insignia Divests Its Last US Senior Living Asset

Senior Living Investment Brokerage closed its third transaction for Insignia Senior Living this year, marking Insignia’s exit from its United States-based senior living operations. This exit allows insignia to focus on core geographic markets in Puerto Rico and Latin America.   Built in 1996 and expanded in 2016, Tapestry House Assisted Living is a 94-unit assisted living community in Alpharetta, Georgia, that was built in two phases. The first phase was a 32-unit building. A pipe burst in December 2022 which resulted in flooding that damaged the building. The second phase was a 62-unit addition featuring apartments, physical therapy spaces and admin offices.  The buyer is... Read More »
North Carolina Operator Acquires Family-Run Campus

North Carolina Operator Acquires Family-Run Campus

Senwell Senior Investment Advisors closed two separate transactions in North Carolina and Florida. First, Senwell facilitated the sale of Silver Bluff, a senior care community in the Asheville, North Carolina MSA. The selected buyer is a well-known operator in North Carolina. With recent Medicaid rate increases, the campus is well-positioned for continued success under new ownership.  Silver Bluff, which was in the seller’s family for decades, comprises 111 skilled nursing beds and 13 assisted living beds across 11.7 acres. Additionally, the campus offers 20 multi-unit assisted housing beds with services and is supported by ancillary properties such as residential duplexes and... Read More »
Retirement Unlimited President Gone 

Senior Care Borrower Delays Agency Takeout

A Charleston, South Carolina-based owner/operator refinanced its seniors housing community in Morgantown, West Virginia, with the help of Live Oak Bank and Berkadia Commercial Mortgage. The bank closed a $39 million A/B uni-tranche loan, with Berkadia’s Seniors Housing & Healthcare Group funding the subordinate debt.  The loan provides a bridge to agency debt and features a three-year term, 24 months of interest-only payments and no exit fee. Loan proceeds were used to retire existing bank debt along with partnership debt associated with the borrower’s 2021 purchase of the 175-unit, independent living, assisted living and memory care community. The community was stable... Read More »
Texas Gets New IL Community

Texas Gets New IL Community

The McFarlin Group just broke ground on its newest active adult community in Dallas, Texas, The Blake at Bent Tree. Featuring 200 units, the community is McFarlin’s 17th development in Dallas, and the company is based in the city, as well. The Blake was developed as an active adult community but offers a future buyer the ability to convert it to full-service independent living, if they choose. It will offer food, programming and laundry services, as well as amenities such as an outdoor BBQ and entertainment area, a golf simulator, outdoor pool with hot tub, pickleball court and professional concierge services, among others. Greystar will operate it under the Elate brand. Berkadia announced... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: Rates Tumble on Eve of NIC

60 Seconds with Swett: Rates Tumble on Eve of NIC

Two years ago at the NIC Fall Conference, the spike in interest rates, with the 10-Year Treasury rate heading above 3.5%, seemed to spook many investors, as deals started disintegrating left and right. That did not help to lift the mood of everyone there. Then, last year, on the eve of NIC, rates were again spiking, this time above 4.5% and heading to 5.0%. The Fed may have stopped its rate increases, but the costs of borrowing were not on the decline. At least there was a belief that the worst had passed, or at least we were in the middle of the worst. Again, did not lift the spirit of the thousands of NIC attendees, and thank you for the open bars.  Now, we are approaching another... Read More »

Spotlight on Senior Care M&A, Sixth Edition

The SeniorCare Investor is releasing a mid-year update of its key valuation statistics for the assisted living, independent living and skilled nursing sectors in its latest report: Spotlight on Senior Care M&A. Check out the average prices and cap rates, as well as analysis of industry headwinds and tailwinds. Read More »