Two cheers for Cambridge
Cambridge Realty Capital Companies closed nearly $25 million in HUD refinancings for two senior care properties in the Chicago area. Both were Alden Management Services facilities, two of 46 owned by the senior care provider mainly around Chicago and a couple in Wisconsin. A 121-bed assisted living community in Aurora received a $13.58 million loan with a 35-year term. In Chicago, a 300-bed skilled nursing facility refinanced with an $11.3 million loan, also for 35 years. Cambridge Realty Capital Ltd. underwrote both transactions. Read More »
Medicaid and Assisted Living
As Managed Care expands into Medicaid, we may see more Medicaid-funded assisted living, and the jury is still out on what that means. Let’s face it, there will be a growing number of people over age 80 who will not be able to afford to live in assisted living and memory care communities, at least not the ones being built today. Even fewer can afford skilled nursing, with monthly private pay rates two and three times higher than assisted living. So what’s going to happen? Some people say home- and community-based care will fill the void, but that is not always cheaper nor the best option. Some states have done a good job with Medicaid waivers to financially support lower-income seniors who... Read More »NHI exercises its option
Further expanding its relationship with Bickford Senior Living, National Health Investors exercised its purchase option to acquire five assisted living/memory care communities from Bickford for $87.5 million, or $315,884 per unit, with an approximate cap rate of 8.3%. Although the properties are not included in the existing joint venture between the two entities, the companies have been closely linked since 2012 when they announced a 10-property partnership, then followed that with a 36-property development pipeline, plus various other acquisitions. This current deal involves five well performing properties in Iowa (2), Missouri, Illinois and Nebraska with an average combined occupancy of... Read More »
Iron Will
We can’t go long without seeing another Aron Will (of CBRE) transaction, or two. The first of his latest deal duo took place in California when a joint venture between Auctus Capital Partners and Och-Ziff Capital Management acquired a 54-unit assisted living/memory care community in San Francisco. Located on an irreplaceable site, the building was originally built it 1923 as a hospital but was purchased by a Mom & Pop in the 1990s who then converted it to senior care. It has some underutilized “dead space” that the JV will convert to add significantly more assisted living and memory care units. Plus, Auctus and Och-Ziff will make some cosmetic improvements to help drive operations,... Read More »
AL cap rates sink even deeper
We have spent the last few weeks discussing the skilled nursing market, focusing particularly on the average cap rate falling to near-record lows. But what about the assisted living M&A market? We saw the average price per unit for assisted living communities rise slightly (from $188,700 in 2014 to $189,200 in 2015), and in turn the average cap rate fell by five basis points from 7.75% to 7.7%. Despite the slight decrease, this is still a continuation of the “new normal” AL market. Since the Great Recession, the average cap rate has steadily been declining, and seemed to rest at around 8.7% in 2012 and 2013. But since then, the current market has settled to an average cap rate around... Read More »
Pillar delivers
A 96-unit assisted living community in Glen Cove, New York undergoing an expansion to add a dedicated memory care wing also refinanced with HUD at the same time. The community, built in 1992 and owned by the not-for-profit National Healthplex, Inc., sought to repay existing municipal bonds, as well as to fund the conversion/rehabilitation project. Josh Hausfeld of Pillar originated a $32.5 million HUD loan, with a 40-year term. The financing was more complicated than usual, with a ground lease on the project land, a payment in-lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement, and the existing tax-exempt bonds issued by Glen Cove Industrial Development Agency. Following the expansion, the community will... Read More »
Buyers’ SNF opportunity
The recent trends of the 10-year Treasury Rate and the average skilled nursing facility cap rates have provided a lot of flexibility for buyers in how they price their acquisitions and negotiate with lenders. After rising from its low in 2012, the average 10-year rate was slowing increasing through 2014 and then dropped a bit in 2015 to a three-year low. But, for the past four years, the 10-year Treasury rate, which has long been thought of as “risk-free,” has averaged 2.5% or lower, or more than 200 basis points lower than during the last market peak of 2006 to 2007. What is interesting to follow is the spread between the 10-year rate and the average skilled nursing cap rate. Nearly 10... Read More »
Media Bias Against SNFs Again
The New York Times is at it again, and the reporters don’t want to do some simple math. Well, well, it looks like The New York Times is at it again. Two weeks ago it had a sensationalist story about residents “held” in nursing facilities. Last weekend, they continued on the theme of the disabled being confined in nursing facilities and ready to go home. The gist of the story was that home and community based care is what the elderly and disabled want (true), and that it is cheaper to boot (not so true). In fact, they cited Washington State as claiming that they can care for seven people at home for the cost of one person in a nursing facility. Really? The Washington Medicaid daily... Read More »