• Joint Venture Acquires Four AL/MC Communities

    Following an active year of M&A with five separate deals totaling 21 properties, Stacked Stone Ventures has kicked off its 2026 growth with a portfolio acquisition in the Southeast. In a joint venture with Praxis Capital and an undisclosed family office, Stacked Stone, which was founded by Kent Eikanas, bought four assisted living/memory care... Read More »
  • Another Publicly Traded REIT Joins the M&A Mix

    Another well-capitalized institutional player is stepping into the seniors housing fray, adding fuel to an already aggressive bidding environment. And based on its initial acquisitions, with one closed at more than $1 million per unit, the target seems to be high-quality assets. Prices are rising fast in that segment, and as the buyer pool... Read More »
  • Distressed AL/MC Community Gets New Owner

    Scott Frazier, Kory Buzin and Steve Thomes of Blueprint advised a special servicer in the seniors housing sector on the sale of Spanish Vines, a well-maintained assisted living/memory care community. It sits in a densely populated Pocket-Greenhaven neighborhood of southwest Sacramento, California. The 88-unit community was generating negative... Read More »
  • Underperforming Community Sells and Secures Financing

    A buyer recently acquired an underperforming seniors housing community in Charleston, South Carolina, and Blueprint Capital Markets secured the debt financing. Blueprint also represented the undisclosed seller in its divestment. The asset comprises 84 units of assisted living and memory care. There is room for occupancy growth and expense cuts,... Read More »
  • Standalone MC Communities Secure Acquisition Financing

    Berkadia recently announced three financings on behalf of three different sponsors. In one of the closings, Steve Muth and Ed Williams arranged $25.8 million in acquisition financing for Peregrine Senior Living at Clifton Park and Peregrine Senior Living at Orchard Park. The bridge financing was provided through Berkadia’s Proprietary Lending... Read More »
Enlivant Expands In Midwest

Enlivant Expands In Midwest

Enlivant expanded its presence in the Midwest with the acquisition of four senior living communities in Indiana (3) and Iowa (1). Ben Firestone and Michael Segal of Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors represented the publicly traded REIT in its strategic exit of the assets. A national operator (which we believe to be Senior Lifestyle Corporation) also handed over the operations to the buyer, Enlivant. Built in the late 1990s, the four assisted living/memory care communities range in size from 35 units to 62 units, totaling 175 units. And although they were nearly all private pay, each community could improve their occupancy. That will be Enlivant’s task, which already has an existing... Read More »
Alley Sells In Knox City

Alley Sells In Knox City

Senior Living Investment Brokerage’s Matthew Alley, always active in Texas, added another sale to his resume, this one in the rural central Texas town of Knox City. Built in the 1960s, the facility featured 66 beds on 2.12 acres. It was losing money on about $1.7 million of revenues at the time of the sale, which was not helped by its 68% occupancy. The buyer, an independent owner/operator based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, will focus on improving census and operating efficiencies. A local owner/operator sold it for $1.295 million, or approximately $20,000 per bed. With hard work, a profit can surely be made. Read More »

The Price of Age in Seniors Housing

Largely, the relationship between the age of a seniors housing property (including assisted and independent living) and the average price per unit is a near-perfect correlation, as the newest communities tend to sell at higher prices than the older ones. That was not the case in 2016, which saw its oldest properties jump in price and its newer ones fall, compared with 2015. Communities built earlier than 2001 (the tail-end of the assisted living building boom) sold for $179,900 per unit, up from $153,800 per unit in 2015, according to The Senior Care Acquisition Report. The anomaly of the year occurred in the group of properties built between 11 and 15 years ago, which sold on average for... Read More »
SNFs, Medicaid and Healthcare Reform

SNFs, Medicaid and Healthcare Reform

Whether the House bill, the Senate bill, or anything that may come out of reconciliation, Medicaid reimbursement for SNFs is going to get squeezed. It is amazing the uproar, first over the House healthcare reform bill, and now the Senate bill. I have to admit, like Nancy Pelosi, I have not read either bill, and I also prefer to wait until something actually becomes law to see what it says. Will the ACA replacement cut Medicaid spending over 10 years by $834 billion in the House bill, or $772 billion in the Senate bill? Will the ranks of the uninsured grow by 23 million by 2026, or 22 million? Will the average skilled nursing facility lose $600,000 in annual Medicaid reimbursement under the... Read More »

Capitol Seniors Housing Builds Its Portfolio

Washington, D.C.-based Capitol Seniors Housing headed up the coast to build a brand-new assisted living/memory care community in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, an affluent suburb of New York City. The firm utilized an existing operating partner, Chelsea Senior Living, which already operates 10 senior living communities in the Mid-Atlantic on behalf of CSH, to third-party manage the new 85-unit community. To finance the project, Aron Will of CBRE arranged a $16.75 million, non-recourse loan with a floating-rate term from a regional bank. The five-year term includes 48 months of interest only. Construction cost is estimated at $29.3 million, or about $345,000 per unit. That is $100,000 per unit... Read More »

Ensign Expands Into Texas and Wisconsin

The Ensign Group boosted its position in two markets with the acquisition of five assisted living communities previously operated by Brookdale Senior Living. First, in Texas, where the company already owns nearly fifty properties, Ensign acquired two 37-unit assisted living communities located in the towns of Lancaster (Dallas MSA) and Paris (rural east Texas). Lately, Ensign has only acquired skilled nursing facilities in the state: one San Antonio SNF in February 2017 and two others previously owned by National Health Investors in April 2016, to name a couple. So, while Ensign may have veered slightly from its recent Texas strategy with those two communities, the company doubled down in... Read More »
The Consistency of Skilled Nursing Facility Expense Ratios

The Consistency of Skilled Nursing Facility Expense Ratios

Just like the average cap rate, the average expense ratio in the skilled nursing market for facilities sold has been very consistent. For the past five years, it has had a low of 88.2% and a high of 88.7%, for a very small 50 basis point spread, according to the 2017 Senior Care Acquisition Report. It was 88.5% in 2015 and 88.6% in 2016, just to show the consistency. Obviously, this excludes expenses such as interest, depreciation, amortization, taxes and rent. When these are all included, it is clear to see why the skilled nursing industry complains to their elected representatives as well as CMS that it is difficult to make money. And future cuts to Medicaid (as promised by both the... Read More »
Seniors Find New Home In Former Hotel

Seniors Find New Home In Former Hotel

During this construction boom in seniors housing, developers are getting creative with where to build their communities. Although the majority of senior care communities are purpose-built, ground-up developments, some developers are taking advantage of existing buildings (like medical office buildings or hotels) that may not have been built for senior care but could be converted to house seniors. Hotels, one would assume, are especially suitable for conversion, with each room already having a bathroom. So, when Bruckal Development saw a need for private pay seniors housing in north Phoenix, Arizona, the firm decided to buy a 126-bed, four-story hotel and reconfigure it into a 119-unit... Read More »
All Business For Berkadia

All Business For Berkadia

The closings keep on coming from Berkadia, which recently facilitated two Freddie Mac financings and a bridge-to-HUD loan for several clients. Heidi Brunet and Chris Honn teamed up to arrange a 10-year, $30 million Freddie Mac loan to refinance a 120-unit independent living community in the Columbus, Ohio area. Recently built in 2015, the community was nearly stabilized, prompting the new client to pay off its existing construction debt with this transaction. Ms. Brunet also assisted an older senior living community to refinance with a 10-year, $44 million Freddie Mac loan. Located in South Florida, the property consists of four buildings with 268 independent living and 55 assisted living... Read More »

Meridian Capital’s Latest Closing

The team at Meridian Capital Group popped over to the Bronx to close their latest transaction. Ari Adlerstein, Ari Dobkin, Josh Simpson and Isaac Lifshitz, all based in Meridian’s New York City headquarters, arranged a two-year $34 million loan to facilitate the acquisition of a 256-bed/120-unit assisted living community in the Bronx. The balance sheet loan, provided by a debt fund, is highly levered and will provide a large earn-out if the client achieves its operating goals. Built in the 1960s, the property was in the process of expanding its license, which was contingent on certain capital expenditure measures. Those plans went into effect post-closing, thanks to the team at... Read More »
SNFs, Medicaid and Healthcare Reform

An Unprecedented Bull Market For Senior Care Acquisitions

The end of June marks the seventh full year of this unprecedented bull market for seniors housing and care acquisitions. We have hit yet another milestone, as the end of June will represent the seventh consecutive year of a bull market for seniors housing and care acquisitions. Not all bulls, however, are created equal, as six months into 2017 it still does not seem as strong as 2015 and parts of 2016. There is certainly more caution in the air, and many people have been waiting for the correction in pricing that just never seems to come. Is the demographic tsunami so strong that a major correction will never happen? Unlikely. Many of us thought rising interest rates would put a damper on... Read More »