• 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 »
A Popular deal

A Popular deal

Popular Community Bank, a subsidiary of Popular, Inc., closed a three-for-one financing for a Staten Island skilled nursing facility. The 372-bed facility includes a fully occupied 72-bed neuro-behavioral unit that is one of two in downstate New York. The operator, Centers Healthcare, acquired the then-300-bed facility in 2012 for $34 million, or $113,333 per bed, from St. Vincent Medical Center when the hospital was going through financial difficulties. Centers plans to add another 72 beds to its neuro-behavioral unit, for which Popular secured a $9 million leasehold improvement line of credit. In addition, the bank provided a $32 million mortgage to replace the facility’s existing... Read More »

CareTrust’s buying spree continues

CareTrust REIT entered the Michigan market, acquiring four assisted living/memory care communities in the state for $30.8 million, or $163,830 per unit. The assisted living/memory care portfolio includes a 46-unit community in Clarkston, a just-built 40-unit community in Goodrich, a 62-unit community in Burton and a 40-unit community in Lapeer. Similar to previous transactions this year, CareTrust immediately leased the communities to an existing operating partner, this time the REIT amending a master lease with Premier Senior Living. The lease will generate approximately $2.7 million in annual rental revenue, but because of the brand-new Goodrich community, CareTrust gave Premier a... Read More »
NHI in the Nutmeg State

NHI in the Nutmeg State

Just a week after announcing it exercised a purchase option on five assisted living/memory care communities from Bickford Senior Living, National Health Investors has made another large purchase, including two Connecticut CCRCs for $56.3 million, or $119,787 per unit/bed. Built in 1968 with a 2009 renovation, the 241-unit/bed community in Bridgeport features 186 independent living units, 26 assisted living units, 13 memory care units and 23 skilled nursing beds. The other community, built in 1991 in Southbury, has 155 IL units, 26 AL units, 14 MC units and 34 skilled nursing beds on a 56-acre property. Both properties were owned by funds managed by certain affiliates of East Lake Capital... Read More »

2015: A Year of Extremes?

We have mentioned previously that 2014 saw an unusually large number of high-valued transactions, with the extreme top-end prices driving the average seniors housing prices to historic levels, as well as pushing down cap rates to new lows. But in 2015, while there were proportionally fewer of both the highest-priced deals and the lowest-priced deals (see our April 13 blog post), it was a year of extremes for cap rates. In 2014, the two ends of the market (cap rates above 9% or below 7%) made up 24% of the year’s transaction cap rates. In 2015, cap rates over 9% made up 15% of the total cap rates, and those under 7% accounted for 27%, combining for 42% of the market. Clearly, the boost in... Read More »
Brookdale Laser Focusing On The Future

Brookdale Laser Focusing On The Future

With fewer distractions and increasing stability, a renewed focus on increasing cash flow and value. So, management at Brookdale Senior Living has got some religion. It has been on the road trying to sell their story to investors. And it appears that selling the bulk of their owned real estate is off the table, which I agree with. They will continue with selective dispositions, although not as many as I think they should, and they have basically put their landlords on notice that as leases come up for renewal, they want to negotiate the lease rates down for the underperformers, or they will walk. Also good news. In addition, they are under-promising with the expectation that they will over... Read More »
CFG’s latest transaction batch

CFG’s latest transaction batch

As always, Capital Funding Group closed a number of various transactions in the past month. First, Craig Casagrande originated a $13.7 million loan secured by the cash flow of seven skilled nursing facilities operated by CommuniCare Family of Companies. The loan will be used for general corporate purposes to help strategically position itself for future opportunities. Next, Patrick McGovern originated two-part financing to facilitate the acquisition of two central-Michigan skilled nursing facilities, with 210 beds, affiliated with the not-for-profit University of Michigan Health System. The Peplinski Group was the buyer, receiving a bridge-to-HUD acquisition loan arranged by Capital... Read More »
A weightier fall

A weightier fall

In our quest to try to determine the truest “market cap rate” for the seniors housing market, for the first time in 2014 we decided to weight each transaction’s cap rate based on its number of units. For the seniors housing market (including both assisted living and independent living), whereas the average un-weighted cap rate in the last four years fell in two descending plateaus, the weighted average had a steadier decrease. In reality, it was a slightly steeper fall, with the unweighted average decreasing by 100 basis points from 2012 to 2015 and the weighted average decreasing by 110 basis points. As in all previous years, the weighted average cap rate in 2015 was lower than the... Read More »

Greystone’s giant deal

Greystone Real Estate Advisors certainly ended May with a bang, closing the largest transaction of the month at a value of $210 million, or $202,117 per unit. Involving seven senior living communities in Texas and one in Oklahoma City, the sold portfolio was owned by Harrison Street Real Estate Capital and Bridgewood Property Company. Built between 1989 and 2000, it included 1,039 total units, with two independent living communities, three independent/assisted living communities and three that included independent living, assisted living and memory care services. Texas-based Cardinal Bay was the buyer, which will retain Retirement Center Management as operator. Cody Tremper of Greystone... Read More »

IL cap rates follow prices down

As prices rise, we would expect cap rates to depress accordingly to reflect the increasing values. However, even though the average price per unit for independent living properties fell 22% from $246,800 in 2014 to $192,900 in 2015, the average IL cap rate dropped by 40 basis points from 7.4% in 2014 to 7.0% in 2015. What contributed to this anomaly? First, independent living prices reached unsustainable heights in 2014, propped up by a number of sales of high-quality properties by owners drawn into the frothy market. So, it is not surprising that the average IL price fell to a still-respectable value (the second-highest average price, in fact). Second, there were simply fewer high-cap... Read More »

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 »
Brookdale Laser Focusing On The Future

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 »