• 60 Seconds with Swett: Senior Care’s PR Problem

    Recently, we have seen stories circulating about the connection between REIT ownership and the way skilled nursing facilities provide care, stemming from a study written by the nonprofit journalism outlet KFF Health News. We’ve seen this before, headlines like “real estate investors profit while patients suffer,” usually with graphic cases of... Read More »
  • Blueprint Sets Pricing Record in New York State

    Blueprint advised a repeat private equity client in a record-setting sale of two standalone memory care communities in high barrier-to-entry submarkets in New York State. Combining for 104 units, these assets were purpose-built in the late 1990s and were stabilized at the time of the deal. Not only that, they were generating cash flow in excess... Read More »
  • CareTrust Keeps Its Foot on the Gas

    CareTrust REIT has deployed nearly $1 billion in closed transactions so far this year, after closing around $1.8 billion in investment activity in 2025, and its pipeline includes $450 million of near-term, actionable opportunities, excluding larger portfolio transactions. The REIT announced that it closed a few separate transactions in mid-April,... Read More »
  • VIUM Capital Announces Slew of HUD Closings

    VIUM Capital closed four HUD 232/223(f) financings in March totaling more than $63 million across a mix of skilled nursing and seniors housing communities. Two of the financings involved skilled nursing facilities in Oklahoma totaling 176 beds. The assets were originally acquired as part of a larger portfolio and refinanced following a... Read More »
  • Lument Secures HUD Express Lane Transaction

    Lument closed a refinance through HUD’s Express Lane for a 120-unit seniors housing community in Lincoln, Nebraska. Built in 2017, Pemberly Place Senior Living features 132 licensed beds and offers independent living, assisted living and memory care services. It also has an on-site medical clinic to offer a range of other healthcare services. The... Read More »
Fall from Grace

Fall from Grace

Ten years ago, when a 143-bed skilled nursing facility in Liberty, Missouri sold as part of a portfolio to a large undisclosed operator, it was one of the more successful facilities in Clay County. Built in 1992, it is located next to Liberty Hospital and so had a steady stream of referrals. However, after nearly a decade of neglectful ownership, the facility was only 77% occupied by the end of 2014. Genesis Healthcare bought the facility in early 2015 but inherited some operational challenges, and CMS moved to close it by that summer. In the midst of those troubles, Liberty Hospital was developing a CCRC on an adjacent lot, which would include an 80-bed skilled nursing unit. Patrick... Read More »
Mainstreet goes to Liverpool

Mainstreet goes to Liverpool

Most people know Mainstreet as a developer in the post-acute care world, and a prolific one at that. After all, it’s the company’s high-end, amenity-rich transitional care developments that have made a big splash in the industry. But Mainstreet’s most recent acquisition involved a senior living community, which features 186 independent and assisted living units. The community is located just outside of Syracuse, New York, in the town of Liverpool, and was built in phases in 1992 and 1996. Owned and operated by a locally-based manager, The Hearth, the community also carried the Enriched Housing Program licensure designation. The Hearth will lease the community back from Mainstreet, which... Read More »
Financing the future

Financing the future

We wrote earlier this month of Capitol Seniors Housing’s large acquisition in the Seattle area, which involved four communities and some 368 units of assisted and independent living for a purchase price of $78 million, or $211,957 per unit. It turns out Aron Will of CBRE financed the transaction on behalf of the joint venture between Capitol Seniors Housing and The Carlyle Group. Mr. Will secured more than $60 million in non-recourse, floating-rate financing, with a five-year term and 36 months of interest only. Approximately $51.9 million of the loan will go towards financing the acquisition, and another $8 million will be allocated for planned capital improvements. The properties were... Read More »
Back to Boise

Back to Boise

Boise, Idaho-based Cascadia Healthcare, a regional provider of transitional/skilled nursing care, just expanded its relationship with one of the more active buyers in 2016, CareTrust REIT. A few months after Cascadia sold (and then leased back) its 98-bed skilled nursing facility in Boise to CareTrust for $8.9 million, or $90,816 per bed, the provider broke ground on its latest transitional care development in nearby Nampa. The 99-bed, 52,000-square foot facility, scheduled to open in mid-2017, just received a $2.2 million preferred equity investment from CareTrust. In addition, the REIT will have an option to purchase the property once it is stabilized. Read More »

San Diego Solution

Aron Will of CBRE closed his latest transactions for two separate borrowers in the San Diego area. First, Mr. Will and Kevin Randles arranged a fixed rate Fannie Mae loan to refinance an 84-unit independent living community in San Diego. The owner/operator, Ray Stone Inc., had managed the community since 2005. Then, The Grant Companies refinanced the recently stabilized 102-unit independent/assisted living Phase II of its Ridge at Lantern Crest campus. Mr. Will worked with Bill Chiles and Scott Peterson on this transaction. CBRE also refinanced Phase I with a Freddie Mac loan back in 2014. Read More »
Iowa outta here

Iowa outta here

An owner/operator is exiting the industry, selling its last seniors housing property in Burlington, Iowa, with the help of Ryan Fleming, Eric Bell, Mark Myers, Joshua Jandris and Charles Hilding of Marcus & Millichap. Located on the Mississippi River about 80 miles southwest of Davenport, this 36-unit assisted living community was built in 1999 on 3.2 acres. It was 83% occupied at the time of the sale, and sold for $3.7 million, or $102,778 per unit, to a private regional owner/operator. Read More »

Living large on Long Island

Typically, you see assisted living communities number between 50 and 100 units, and only rarely over 150 units. Those large facilities are usually reserved for independent living. But a 200-unit assisted living community on Long Island in Lake Ronkonkoma, New York recently went through HUD to refinance its variable-rate bank debt. Ken Gould of Lancaster Pollard arranged a 30-year HUD loan for the community, which also enabled it to set aside a large initial deposit on its replacement reserves while still keeping the loan-to-value low. That reduces the community’s annual contribution and improves its debt service coverage. Read More »
A financing fit for a Queen

A financing fit for a Queen

A CCRC in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle has plans to add more independent living units as well as a two-story assisted living/memory care building, and is partnering with Ziegler to help finance it. The not-for-profit community opened in 1961 and currently features 124 IL units, 45 AL units and 50 skilled nursing beds, in addition to an intergenerational childcare center. To expand their efforts, Ziegler closed a $57.46 million un-rated, fixed rate bond issue for the CCRC. The financing will also fund additional capital improvements at the community, refund the outstanding Series 1994 bonds, pay a portion of interest on the bonds, fund subaccounts of a debt service reserve fund,... Read More »

CareTrust’s California buying spree

California-based CareTrust REIT didn’t travel far to close its last couple of deals, adding five in-state senior care facilities to its portfolio in just a week. First, the REIT acquired a 59-bed skilled nursing facility in Petaluma for $6.9 million, or $116,949 per bed, bringing in a new tenant in West Harbor Healthcare to operate. CareTrust expects the acquisition will generate initial annual rental revenue of approximately $670,000, under an initial 15-year lease, with two five-year extension options and CPI-based rent escalators. Then, CareTrust bought a senior care portfolio in Northern California, with a skilled nursing facility and an assisted living community each in the towns of... Read More »
Consistent Cambridge

Consistent Cambridge

Cambridge Realty Capital Companies has specialized in the small- to mid-sized loan in the first half of 2016. The lender closed a total of $61.6 million in six HUD financings in the six-month period. In that time, the largest closing was a $13.5 million loan for a 121-bed assisted living community in Aurora, Illinois, and the smallest was a $7.6 million loan to refinance a Chicago skilled nursing facility. That consistency has led to more than $5.0 billion in closed transactions for the firm since the 1980s. Read More »