• Active Adult Community Secures Freddie Mac Refinance

    An active adult community in Hurst, Texas, paid off its existing bank debt with a Freddie Mac refinance arranged by Berkadia. Heritage Village Residences was built in 2014 with 120 units, including 10 cottages. It was part of multiple acquisitions over the years, first in 2020 when Edison Equity Management Corporation bought it for $23.3 million... Read More »
  • Upstate NY Seniors Housing Community Trades

    Kory Buzin and Steve Thomes of Blueprint facilitated the sale of a seniors housing community in upstate New York that stakeholders were divesting to take advantage of positive performance trends and a strong M&A market. The Legacy at Cranberry Landing, a 95-unit independent living, assisted living and memory care community in Rochester, was... Read More »
  • Seniors Housing Investment Vehicle Acquires First Asset

    Focus Healthcare Partners acquired Bellingham at West Chester, a 274-unit seniors housing community in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The investment is Focus’ first for its newest investment vehicle, Focus Senior Housing Fund III. The property sits on an 11.8-acre site 20 miles west of downtown Philadelphia. It comprises 208 independent living, 50... Read More »
  • Management Transfer Includes Purchase Option

    A senior care campus in Waterloo, Illinois, secured a new operator thanks to Ray Giannini of Marcus & Millichap. Featuring 144 skilled nursing beds and 50 independent living units, Oak Hill – Senior Living and Rehabilitation Center was well occupied with a strong quality mix. It was owned by Monroe County, which wanted to retain the... Read More »
  • Bank Provides Refinance to Family Office

    BHI, the U.S. branch of Bank Hapoalim, provided a $29.0 million loan for the refinancing of an assisted living and skilled nursing facility in West Palm Beach, Florida. Gold Standard of Care Group, a Florida-based family office with a focus on healthcare and senior care and over $150 million in assets, was the borrower.  Totaling 70,272... Read More »
Celebrating 30 Years

Celebrating 30 Years

The American Seniors Housing Association has been supporting the senior living industry for 30 years now, with David Schless at the helm throughout. I fondly remember going to my first annual meeting of the American Seniors Housing Association, back when it was part of the National Multifamily Housing Council. Let’s just say it was quite smaller than it is today, and I have to say, a bit more intimate. If you attended one of those early meetings, you may remember my question to Murry Gunty of Lazard Freres, when in the 1990s he was in the middle of patching together a company that seemed very disorganized, as I outlined his various, unconnected acquisitions. I asked, “So Murry, what’s the... Read More »
Celebrating 30 Years

Can Skilled Nursing Be Reformed?

The American Health Care Association and Leading Age have proposed a reform agenda for skilled nursing. As usual, the problem is Medicaid. The American Health Care Association and Leading Age have proposed a policy “agenda” to address some of the problems that exist in skilled nursing facilities today, which were obviously highlighted by the impact of the pandemic.  As part of the reforms, they want enhanced infection control practices, 24-hour RNs, 30-day minimum supply of PPE, better recruiting and retention of staff, improved oversight systems, and a shift to all private rooms. There is little here to disagree with, except that they expect Medicaid to pick up most of the $15... Read More »
Celebrating 30 Years

Financial Relief For Seniors Housing

Federal financial relief may be coming to assisted living and memory care providers, but will it be enough? The folks at ASHA, Argentum and NCAL have been working overtime to obtain some federal financial relief for their private pay members to deal with the burdens associated with COVID-19.  It’s supposed to be coming soon, but will it be enough? For now, the formula will be based on how it worked for Medicaid providers, which is 2% of 2019 revenues. For an 80-unit assisted living/memory care community with an average $5,000 monthly rate, that might come in at close to $80,000. If you have 50 communities, that is $4 million. Now we’re talking. For a more modest community with 50 units in... Read More »
Celebrating 30 Years

ASHA and Stifel Nicolaus Meetings

What we heard about industry trends 3,000 miles from home. After spending three days at the American Seniors Housing Association meeting and the Stifel Nicolaus “2020 Seniors Housing & Healthcare Real Estate Conference, other than jet lag, there were a few takeaways. First off, on a few panels stand-alone memory care communities came up, and not in a good way. Because they tend to be small, a few resident deaths can have an outsized impact, the former over-development has still left a bad taste, and stand-alone anything is viewed by many as too risky. Speakers believed cap rates were at least 100 basis points higher than for assisted living.  One thing we did hear is that... 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 »