• West Coast and Northeast Skilled Nursing Facilities Sell

    Walker & Dunlop’s Gideon Orion has announced several recent skilled nursing sales on the West Coast and the Northeast. First, he teamed up with Tony Cassie to sell a 69-bed skilled nursing facility in Bellevue, Washington, on behalf of a family office seller. The facility could use some operational improvements. An undisclosed buyer paid... Read More »
  • Investor Acquires Community Out of Receivership  

    Fortress Investment Group acquired an assisted living/memory care community in Palm Coast, Florida, in a court-approved sale process. Built in 2018 just a mile from the Atlantic Ocean, the community features 130 units on an 11.4-acre site. There are 86 assisted living units and 22 memory care units, along with 22 “enhanced” assisted living... Read More »
  • Seniors Housing Deals Close Across Several Markets

    Coming off of a successful 2025 with 32 separate transaction closings totaling more than $900 million in volume, the Walker & Dunlop investment sales team is off to a strong start in 2026 with a number of seniors housing and healthcare real estate transactions closed in the first quarter, so far. The deals spanned several markets, and the... Read More »
  • Selectis Health Divests Two SNFs to Journey

    Selectis Health is selling two skilled nursing facilities in Georgia to the skilled nursing operator Journey. The deal included the 101-bed Glen Eagle Healthcare in Abbeville and the 100-bed Rehab and Eastman Healthcare and Rehab in Eastman. Journey-affiliated entities will purchase the pair for $15.7 million, or $78,100 per bed, subject to... Read More »
  • Sonida Closes CNL Acquisition, Reports Q4 Results

    On the same day as fourth quarter and year-end 2025 financial results were announced, Sonida Senior Living closed on its previously announced acquisition of CNL Healthcare Properties (CNL). The transaction value was approximately $1.8 billion and included a combination of cash (32%) and stock (68%). Because Sonida’s share price had risen above... 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 »