Riding Into NIC With A Market Disconnect
With the 25th annual NIC Conference upon us, the public markets seem to be crashing, and Brookdale Senior Living will be topic number 1. If you can believe it, this will be my 25th straight NIC annual conference. Yes, every one of them since the first one in Washington, D.C. when there were maybe 500 attendees. I happened to be one of the plenary speakers, giving the state of the skilled nursing market report. The funny thing was, the NIC organizers had to send someone to “check me out” to see if I was legit. Well, I hope over the last 25 years I have been successful in establishing my legitimacy. But you never know. As we all arrive today in Washington, perhaps the biggest topic will be... Read More »Growth spurt
Sabra Health Care REIT announced a pair of acquisitions, totaling almost $85 million. First the REIT purchased four senior living communities, with 214 total units, in the Pacific Northwest for $65 million, or $303,700 per unit. Three of the properties are located in Oregon and one in Washington, with a total of 122 assisted living units, 74 memory care units and 18 independent living units. Built between 1989 and 1995, with various renovations between 2003 and 2011, the portfolio averaged 96.4% occupancy in 2014 and operated at a 33% margin on $13.9 million of revenues, resulting in a 7.1% cap rate. Sabra leased the properties to Radiant Senior Living, with an initial term of 10 years and... Read More »New senior care operator in Texas
A new entrant in the post-acute care market made their first acquisition: a portfolio of four skilled nursing facilities in Texas for an undisclosed price. Formed in June 2015 by Michael Wallace, formerly President of Daybreak Ventures, Shady Shores Communities purchased the four facilities, with 424 beds, from three separate owner/operators. The mostly Medicaid census averaged 70% occupancy across the portfolio. Shady Shores is also in the process of developing three other facilities in Texas. To finance the acquisition, Oxford Finance provided a four-year $7 million senior secured term loan and a $1 million revolving line of credit. Mr. Wallace is wasting no time growing the business,... Read More »Mourning Granger Cobb
We mourn the passing of Granger Cobb, the former CEO of Emeritus and Board member of Brookdale Senior Living. Granger spent almost his entire career serving the needs of the elderly, starting with his first company, Cobbco, Inc. While he lost his fight against cancer, his spirit will live on in the senior living professionals he nurtured over the past 30 years. He is survived by his wife of 31 years and two daughters. A celebration of his life will be on October 24. Read More »The Name Game
In the last couple of days, two big players in the seniors housing industry announced name changes. First, Thomas DeRosa, CEO of Health Care REIT, announced in a letter to employees that the REIT would be renamed Welltower. Despite this change, the company will still trade under its ticker symbol “HCN” on the New York Stock Exchange. And then following this announcement, the Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA) unveiled its new name, Argentum. Derived from the Latin for “silver,” the new brand will reflect the organization’s expanded focus on “expanding senior living” for the “silver generation.” While Health Care REIT’s announcement seems to have come out of left field, the ALFA... Read More »Agapé Senior Living portfolio sells for $154 million
In one of the largest US seniors housing sales so far in 2015 (sixth-largest, to be exact), a private equity firm bought the independently operated South Carolina Agapé Senior Living portfolio, representing 10 communities with 856 units of seniors housing and three facilities of 294 skilled nursing beds. Agapé grew the portfolio organically through internal growth and acquisitions, with all the properties relatively young and large in size. In fact, the oldest building was built in 1990 (a SNF), and the smallest was a 58-unit AL/MC community. The final purchase price was $153.9 million, or $156,400 per unit for the AL/MC units and $68,000 per bed for the skilled nursing, with a 9.9% cap... Read More »Big Rock, Big Project
Big Rock Partners is at it again. Already developing a $75 million senior living project in Celebration, Florida and a $25 million project in Port Royal, South Carolina, the real estate investment management firm is set to begin construction of Atria at Villages of Windsor, a 318-unit senior living community in southern Palm Beach County. The 22.5-acre site, which Big Rock purchased for $10 million, happens to be the largest, and one of the last, entitled senior housing parcels in the county, where existing senior living communities were built on average 21 years ago. Designed by Gensler and to be constructed by Moss & Associates, the 425,000-square foot community will feature 186... Read More »Berkadia originates $366 million financing
Working with both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Berkadia arranged two loans totaling $366.7 million for Brookdale Senior Living to refinance 39 of its seniors housing properties in two separate portfolios. The first portfolio, including 21 properties with 1,924 units and an average occupancy of 91%, is made up of 5.7% IL, 15.9% MC and 78.4% AL units. It was refinanced with a $226.4 million, 10-year loan through Fannie Mae arranged by Managing Directors Heidi Brunet and Christopher Fenton of Berkadia. The loan come to $117,700 per unit. The pair also closed a $140.3 million (or $117,900 per unit), seven-year loan through Freddie Mac for a portfolio of 18 properties, which consists of 1,190... Read More »Being Large In Seniors Housing
Size isn’t all its cracked up to be, and it does matter whether you own or operate the real estate. We always hear that size matters, but it can also work against you. While no one has claimed to be able to define the optimal size of a seniors housing company, I have yet to hear anyway say that they would be comfortable running a company with more than 500 properties. Most would say that 250 would be tops, with many of them even much smaller. I am talking about owning and operating, with the emphasis on operating. For REITs, I don’t know if there is a real number where their efficiencies get maxed out. They are not hiring the staff and serving the food. And they are not trying to... Read More »When it rains, it pours
The announcements keep coming from Lancaster Pollard, with the firm announcing two transactions (and three loans) plus a new addition to its M&A group just in the last few days. First, Mike Ashley led the way in obtaining funding for a local nonprofit to refinance and renovate its senior living facility in Higginsville, Missouri. With Life Care Services managing the facility since 1995, the nonprofit plans to increase the number of skilled nursing beds by 16 private rooms in a new wing, in addition to making other improvements to the building. Following the $5.4 million renovation, the community will feature 145 IL units, 26 AL units and 56 SNF beds. Lancaster Pollard worked with local... Read More »Schedule a demo
Gain access to the best healthcare and long-term care investment intelligence, data, and analysis.
