• 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 »

Lower Expenses, Higher Prices

One would assume that as a skilled nursing facility’s profitability increased, so should its price. And that was indeed the case in 2015, with a perfect correlation between the average price per bed and the expense rate. Facilities with an expense ratio of 90% and over sold in 2015 for an average of $46,000 per bed, while those with expense ratios between 85% and 89% sold for $75,000 per bed on average. The high end of the market, meaning those facilities with expense ratios under 85%, not surprisingly sold for the highest price, averaging $128,100 per bed in 2015. Clearly, well-operating skilled nursing facilities are very attractive to investors in search of a high return, at least when... Read More »

LTC Expands with Thrive

LTC Properties (NYSE: LTC) expanded its relationship with Thrive Senior Living, acquiring and then leasing another property to the Atlanta-based operator for $14.3 million, or $204,286 per unit. Receiving its Certificate of Occupancy in May 2016, the community in Athens, Georgia was actually developed by a joint venture between Thrive, Paragon Real Estate and Summit Healthcare REIT. It features 50 assisted living and 20 memory care all-private pay units, and was added to an existing master lease agreement at an initial incremental yield of 8.0%. This expands LTC’s relationship with Thrive to three communities, with two additional development projects expected to open by the end of... Read More »
Two year turnover for CNL

Two year turnover for CNL

Following up on Five Star Quality Care’s (NYSE: FVE) sale of seven of its 33 owned senior living communities for $112.4 million, the company put some of those funds to work in acquiring a 163-unit senior living community in Vestavia Hills, Alabama. Built in 1994 with an addition in 1997, the community has 90 independent living, 49 assisted living and 24 memory care units. The seller, CNL Lifestyle Properties, bought the property in January 2014 for $18.5 million, or $113,500 per unit, and then leased it back to an affiliate of Solomon Senior Living and Trinity Lifestyles Management. But Five Star will take over operations, in addition to changing the community’s name to Morningside... Read More »
Oceanside on Oahu

Oceanside on Oahu

Shep Roylance and Lee Blake of The JCH Group recently traveled to Hawaii to facilitate the sale of a 152-unit senior living property in Hauula. In this community, all of the units are licensed for assisted living, but a large portion of the residents require little to no care and are basically independent living. There are also memory care, hospice, respite and adult day care services. It was built in 1997 with 90,351 square feet on 7.98 acres, and comes with a 99-year land lease. A local owner/operator paid $6.64 million, or $43,684 per unit, for the community, and Messrs. Roylance and Blake represented both the buyer and seller in the transaction. Read More »

Back to Sims

A couple of years after purchasing two Rhode Island skilled nursing facilities, Athena Health Care Systems has gone to HUD to refinance the two properties, with the help of HJ Sims. Totaling 280 beds, the skilled nursing facilities combined for an occupancy in the mid-90s. This was not the first time Sims had gotten involved with these facilities. In fact, when Athena acquired them in 2013 and 2014, Sims issued both conventional bank financing and preferred equity to fund the deal. But, the bank debt was scheduled to mature in 2020 and 2021, respectively, and Athena chose to refinance through HUD to take advantage of the current low interest rate environment. So, Sims Mortgage Funding... Read More »

Quantity over Quality?

What is the added cost of purchasing a portfolio of assisted living communities versus single-facilities? That is a question we try to answer in our Senior Care Acquisition Report (now in its 21st Edition). Now, there is no guarantee that a buyer will pay more for a portfolio of properties, but rather, the premium has to do with both the number of properties and the quality. For statistical purposes, we define “portfolio” sales as those sales with three or more properties. Most years, there is a sizeable difference between the average price paid for portfolios compared with smaller purchases. In 2015, we recorded one of the largest premiums in recent years of $47,600 per unit, or a 30%... Read More »
Continued Uncertainty At HCP

Continued Uncertainty At HCP

Lauralee Martin is out as CEO, but who will be in remains a mystery. The only thing surprising about the “sudden” announcement that Lauralee Martin stepped down as CEO of HCP, Inc. was that the effective date of her departure was also the announcement date. Now, we don’t want to read too many tea leaves into the situation, but remember that she came into the CEO position from the Board nearly three years ago in a tumultuous dumping of the previous CEO. She already had a top job at another real estate company and didn’t really need the aggravation. But she steered the REIT through another tumultuous period with, first the two lease adjustments, and then the in-process spin-off of the $6... Read More »

Bridge with Love

A new 62-bed assisted living/memory care community is being developed in Ogden, Utah with the help of a $6.63 million bridge construction loan arranged by James Vanar of Love Funding. The loan, which was provided by Love’s parent company Midland States Bank, is expected to be taken out in three years by a HUD refinance. It also allows the developer, Utah-based Giza Development, to start the project sooner and begin accepting residents. Since introducing the bridge loan program in May 2015, Love has already financed over $65 million in bridge loans, not including $300 million of loans in its pipeline. Read More »

Two Louisville-area assisted living communities sold

Allen McMurtry, Megan Fetter and David Kliewer of Cushman & Wakefield’s Tampa office represented Senior Care US Holdings, Inc., in the sale of its two assisted living/memory care communities near Louisville, Kentucky. Both communities have been operated by Elmcroft Senior Living since opening in 2012, with one featuring 56 assisted living units, 24 memory care units and a 99% occupancy, and another consisting of 31 assisted living units and 34 memory care units at 85% occupancy. Capital Health Group LLC was the buyer on behalf of a joint venture between Hunt Realty Investments and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. Read More »
HFF closes high value deal in Northeast

HFF closes high value deal in Northeast

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P. (HFF) closed one of the most expensive seniors housing transactions ever (on a per-unit basis), with its sale of two assisted living/memory care communities in the Northeast for $98.25 million, or almost $575,000 per unit. There were several factors that led to this near-record price. First was the location. One of the properties is located in suburban Philadelphia and the other is in New Jersey within the New York City MSA, both high barrier-to-entry, high-income markets. Second, they were recently built in 2013 by the owners, a joint venture between Formation Development Group (an affiliate of Formation Capital) and Shelbourne Healthcare Development Group... Read More »
Ensign’s quiet 2016

Ensign’s quiet 2016

The Ensign Group (NASDAQ: ENSG) has cooled off significantly in 2016, following its 23 transactions in 2015. The company has only closed three deals so far this year, including its purchase of the Legend Healthcare properties (with eight skilled nursing facilities in Texas) and a small hospice operation in Iowa. Most recently, Ensign acquired a 171-bed skilled nursing facility in Kansas City, Kansas, which included the operations and the underlying real estate, for an undisclosed price. The facility includes a 10-bed assisted living unit, and was 56% occupied under the ownership of a faith-based not-for-profit. Ensign’s subsidiary, Endura Healthcare, Inc., will take over... Read More »