• Strawberry Fields REIT’s 2025 Growth

    Strawberry Fields REIT reported its 2025 operating results, noting that it was the best year since its inception more than 10 year ago. The company posted significant increases in FFO and AFFO, and it completed more than $110 million in several new acquisitions. Its portfolio now includes 131 skilled nursing facilities, 10 assisted living... Read More »
  • Owner/Operator Exits SNF Sector

    An independent owner/operator exited the skilled nursing sector through its divestment of Sunrise Country Manor, which has 80 beds in Milford, Nebraska, and features a mix of private and semi-private units. It maintained an 83% occupancy rate at the time of the sale. A regional operator looking to expand its footprint in Nebraska acquired the... Read More »
  • Assisted Living Providers Join Forces 

    Majestic Residences recently expanded its footprint, adding 17 assisted living communities and six in active development, through its acquisition of Avendelle Senior Living. Avendelle will be integrated into the Majestic Residences platform, with Avendelle’s corporate team retained. The combined organization will operate under the Majestic... Read More »
  • Investor Secures Financing and Acquires Class-A Community

    BWE’s Seniors Housing Capital Markets Team sold and financed The Capstone at Station Camp, which sits in the Nashville, Tennessee MSA. Built in 2021, the Class-A assisted living and memory care community comprises 100 units in Gallatin. It is operated by TerraBella Senior Living.  BWE represented the seller, Hunt Midwest. The buyer was a... Read More »
  • Multiple SNFs Sell in Separate Transactions

    A large skilled nursing company sold its 181-bed skilled nursing facility to a private investment firm based in New York, exiting South Carolina in the process. The buyer had an existing skilled nursing footprint, and will be leasing this facility to a regional operator. The building was older, built in the 1980s, and was around 80% occupied at... Read More »
60 Seconds with Ben Swett: Competition For Deals in an Active M&A Market

60 Seconds with Ben Swett: Competition For Deals in an Active M&A Market

We’re not sure we have ever seen a month like this when it seemed that institutional buyers were racing to see who could announce the biggest deal. First was Welltower’s acquisition of 22 Pathway to Living communities, then came Harrison Street’s $1.2 billion purchase of 24 Oakmont communities, then Atria Senior Living acquired Holiday Retirement and Welltower jumped back in again, acquiring Holiday’s owned portfolio of 86 properties. Next, we had the Griffin American REITs 3 and 4 merging, and finally, at least of this filming, Ventas will pay $2.3 billion to purchase New Senior Investment Group. It has been a dizzying display of strength from these institutional buyers, and we are... Read More »
60 Seconds with Ben Swett: M&A Hits a High in 2021

60 Seconds with Ben Swett: M&A Hits a High in 2021

When it rains, it pours in senior care M&A. First, we noticed a significant uptick in deal activity this month, with over 30 transactions announced since June 1st. Not December’s level of activity, but we’ll take it. Then, Harrison Street announced the largest purchase in the industry in two years, spending $1.2 billion on 24 Oakmont communities. But yesterday, when we were still digesting the sale of former SNF giant Kindred Healthcare to LifePoint, Welltower made the biggest splash of all, buying Holiday Retirement’s owned portfolio of 86 independent living properties for $1.58 billion. Not only that, but Atria Senior Living will acquire the operating business of Holiday for an... Read More »
Dissecting the Holiday Retirement Deal

Dissecting the Holiday Retirement Deal

Welltower announced the acquisition of Holiday Retirement’s owned portfolio of 86 independent living communities for $1.58 billion, or just about $152,000 per unit. Simultaneously, Atria Senior Living said that it was acquiring Holiday’s operating business for an undisclosed price. Either of these announcements would normally be major news, but they also come on the heels of Harrison Street’s $1.2 billion purchase of 24 properties operated by Oakmont Senior Living and a very busy June (so far) with more than 30 individual transactions already made public. Perhaps the tide has turned for investment activity in seniors housing and care.  The Welltower deal also represents yet another... Read More »
60 Seconds with Ben Swett: M&A Hits a High in 2021

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 »
A Holiday with Atria

A Holiday with Atria

Last week, as part of its earnings release, New Senior Investment Group announced that Atria Senior Living would be taking over management of 21 independent living communities managed by Holiday Retirement Corporation. From a diversification perspective, this makes great sense for New Senior because Holiday had been managing 98 of New Senior’s 103 properties. In the REIT world, that kind of tenant concentration is a no-no.   Like most owners across the country, including Atria, the New Senior portfolio has seen its occupancy drop by 690 basis points in the past year. This is much better than the average for assisted living and skilled nursing, but as we... Read More »