• 60 Seconds with Swett: Here We Go Again

    AARP just published a report on assisted living, and all I can say is, here we go again. It concludes that “the state of assisted living today is cause for concern for many stakeholders. The lack of national federal standards for care centers creates an underregulated space.” It continues on, stating that the “absence of national oversight,... Read More »
  • Two Seniors Housing Sales Close

    Senior Living Investment Brokerage is continuing on its hot streak this month, closing two additional deals in Alabama and Florida. In the Alabama transaction, Dan Geraghty and Brad Clousing represented a large national owner/operator that was resizing its portfolio to concentrate on its core market. So, the company divested an assisted... Read More »
  • Selectis Health Exits Georgia

    Selectis Health, Inc. has completed its exit from Georgia with the help of Michael Segal and Daniel Waldhorn of Blueprint. In the beginning of the year, Selectis Health divested Providence of Sparta Health and Rehab and Warrenton Health and Rehab to Journey, also with the help of Segal and Waldhorn (more on that deal can be found here). The... Read More »
  • Joint Venture Divests Third Class-A Asset

    Caddis Partners and Singerman Real Estate have divested another seniors housing community, Heartis Fayetteville. This comes shortly after the joint venture’s sale of Heartis Venice and Heartis Longview. Ross Sanders, Dave Fasano, Cody Tremper and Mike Garbers of Berkadia Seniors Housing & Healthcare represented the seller in all three... Read More »
  • Bonds Issued for Independent Living Expansion

    Ziegler closed John Knox Village’s $47.85 million Series 2026A, B-1, B-2 and B-3 bonds issued through the City of Lee’s Summit, Missouri. John Knox Village (JKV), a Missouri not-for-profit corporation, is a CCRC consisting of 1,038 independent living units, 180 assisted living units and 121 skilled nursing beds. This transaction marks JKV’s... Read More »
The Yankees are coming

The Yankees are coming

Winchester, Virginia was the most fought-over town during the American Civil War, changing hands between the North and South as many as 72 times. Now, in a bloodless affair, a 75-unit assisted living community in town has a new owner (New York City-based Care Investment Trust), to the tune of $9.38 million, or $125,067 per unit, with a 7.4% cap rate. The community has undergone expansions since opening in 1990, including a 35-unit addition in 2008, and today includes 73 AL units and two independent living cottages. Both occupancy and the operating margin can be improved, with both standing at 83% and 22%, respectively. Also, monthly rates, ranging from $2,500 to $2,900 for semi-privates,... Read More »
No community left behind

No community left behind

Capital One went back to a former client to close a HUD loan modification, taking advantage of the low-interest rate environment while they can (looking at you Mr. President-elect). A few years ago, the team at Capital One refinanced a portfolio of properties owned by Terrace Communities, which included a 15-year old, 71-unit assisted living/memory care community in Tequesta, Florida. However, because of a timing difference, that property closed with a higher interest rate than the rest of the portfolio. So Carolyn Whatley of Capital One went through HUD’s loan modification program to reduce the community’s interest rate. The non-recourse fixed-rate loan has over 32 years remaining on the... Read More »
Cap Rates and Interest Rates

Cap Rates and Interest Rates

With the recent jump in interest rates, cap rates have no where to go but up. Since the end of September, the 10-year Treasury note has increased by 60 basis points, or 38%, to 2.22% yesterday. More than half of that increase occurred after the results of the presidential election. It seems that Trump’s pro-business reputation is making investors believe that increased infrastructure spending and economic growth will soon be upon us, followed by inflation. It doesn’t usually happen that fast. That said, with the recent jump in rates, it is almost a certainty that the Fed will increase short-term rates within a month. And there is now talk of further rate increases next year. So what does... Read More »

When a Deal Is Not a Sale

Kindred Healthcare (NYSE: KND) and Ventas (NYSE: VTR) have agreed on a plan that allows Kindred to exit the skilled nursing business, or at least mostly. Of the 90 or so SNFs that Kindred still operates, Ventas owns 36 of them and leases them to Kindred. The two companies have agreed that Kindred can purchase the 36 properties for $700 million (current rent is $49 million), or renew the current lease on all unpurchased SNFs through 2015 at the current rent level. If they all get purchased (and then re-sold at different prices) for $700 million, that would come to $160,000 per bed, which strikes us as above market for the Kindred SNFs. Most likely, the price represents a premium that KND... Read More »
Connecticut CCRC Changes Hands

Connecticut CCRC Changes Hands

A large for-profit CCRC in North Branford, Connecticut recently sold. Purchased in 2006 by a joint venture between The Shelter Group and Herbert J. Sims & Company for $72 million, 10 years later it sold for approximately $69.5 million. National Health Investors (NYSE: NHI) was the buyer, and its all-in acquisition cost was about $74 million, which included closing costs, various escrows/deposits, and other fees. The CCRC, which has 227 independent living units, 22 assisted living units and 50 skilled nursing beds, was originally developed in the early-1990s in two phases on 88 acres. Occupancy had been on an upward trend and was just over 88% in 2015. NHI will be leasing the community... Read More »

Will and The Waters

Going through a life insurance company, Aron Will of CBRE arranged acquisition financing on behalf of a joint venture looking to acquire a 139-unit assisted living/memory care community in Edina, Minnesota. In the affluent suburb of Minnesota, the community was built in 2013 with 97 AL and 42 MC units near a local hospital. Mr. Will worked with a joint venture between an institutional client and The Waters Senior Living in securing a $33.15 million seven-year acquisition loan, with a fixed rate and 18 months of interest-only. Read More »
November’s M&A train keeps on rolling

November’s M&A train keeps on rolling

There have been many big news stories so far since the start of November. Yes, outside of politics even. As many of you probably read in the latest issue of The SeniorCare Investor, we saw a resurgence of senior care and seniors housing transactions this month, after about a half a year of tepid M&A activity. We have to say that “tepid” is a relative term, but the reality is the average number of deals per month was 22.6 from June to October, compared with a 34.3 average in the second half of 2015 and a 30.4 average in the first five months of 2016. So far in November, we have already seen 18 transactions announced, and several of those have been big by 2016 standards, including two... Read More »
Harborview hits a triple

Harborview hits a triple

In three separate transactions, Harborview Capital Partners closed over $40 million in financing and showed off its variety of services in turn. Ephraim Kutner and Jonathan Kutner of the commercial real estate finance, equity and advisory firm first arranged a $10.6 million HUD loan with a 30-year term on behalf of a Chicago-based borrower to refinance a 115-bed assisted living community in St. Paul Minnesota. Harborview also closed two bank loans. One, led by Jonathan Kutner and David Chiger, involved a $16 million refinance of an Illinois skilled nursing facility. The five-year loan will pay off existing debt and provide cash-out proceeds to the Chicago-based borrower. And then Jonathan... Read More »
The cost of opportunity

The cost of opportunity

A regional owner/operator in California saw a value-add opportunity when it acquired a 119-unit assisted living/memory care community owned by a large real estate investment company in San Bernadino County. Built over 25 years ago, the community was just 67% occupied at the time of closing. It sold for $15.5 million, or $130,252 per unit, which is about $68,000 less than the average price for assisted living communities in the four quarters ended September 30, 2016, and probably even lower than the average price for California properties. So there is certainly an opportunity to add value, but the work has to be done. Jim Hazzard and Nick Stahler of The JCH Group handled the... Read More »
Kindred Healthcare Plunges

Kindred Healthcare Plunges

Exiting the SNF business, Kindred’s decision is just part of a national transformation of the sector that started a year ago. And I thought last week was a tough one. When Kindred Healthcare released its third quarter earnings on Monday night, I knew it would open significantly down, but 33% down? The company has decided to exit the skilled nursing sector – sound familiar? This was a bit surprising because even though they had already gone from 300 SNFs to around 92 today, I assumed the remaining facilities were the best ones, and in the markets close to its LTACs, rehab hospitals and home health services. That was the entire theory around being the post-acute provider of choice in... Read More »
Detroit Dealmaking

Detroit Dealmaking

Green Courte Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, has been one active acquirer in the independent living market, when few other buyers have been investing in the sector. Even though the IL market has been a huge factor in pushing average seniors housing prices to record-highs average (peaking at an average of $248,300 per unit in the four quarters ended March 31, 2016), its share of M&A has been shrinking in the last couple of years. Nevertheless, Green Courte has acquired five IL properties in the last year. Its most recent transaction involved a portfolio of three IL communities located in the Detroit MSA, which it purchased for an undisclosed price. All totaling 371 units,... Read More »