• 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 »
August Acquisition Volume Light, But Consistent

August Acquisition Volume Light, But Consistent

Can we call it a comeback when the seniors housing and care M&A market surpassed 20 deals in August? We recorded 21 publicly announced transactions in the month, which is the highest total since April when 22 deals were disclosed. Since April, there have been 20 deals announced in May, 18 in June and 20 again in July. Consistent, yes, but we just still aren’t used to seeing numbers like these after the heady times of 2018 and 2019 when buyers regularly made 40 transactions or more in a month.   Through the end of August, the seniors housing and care M&A market reached 200 deals announced in 2020, so far. Roughly half of that total came in the first quarter, which was... Read More »
Diversified Healthcare Trust Divests Two Managed Communities

Diversified Healthcare Trust Divests Two Managed Communities

Diversified Healthcare Trust (DHC) divested a couple of its SHOP assets, both located in Mississippi and operated by Five Star Senior Living under the Hermitage Gardens name. Built around 2000 and renovated in 2005, the properties include a 57-unit assisted living community in Oxford and a 59-unit AL community in Southaven.   DHC acquired them in 2006 for a combined $12.4 million, or $112,700 per unit, and at a 7.5% cap rate. The current purchase price is not known, but in DHC’s second quarter earnings report, the company mentioned selling two managed senior living properties and two MOBs subsequent to the quarter for a combined $5.197 million. An undisclosed private equity firm was the... Read More »
REITs Start To Cut Dividends

REITs Start To Cut Dividends

The healthcare Real Estate Investment Trusts have been the hardest hit in our sector during the recent stock market plunge. Many are worried about their own liquidity and drew down on their credit facilities, even if they didn’t need the funds now. Some just went and raised new debt to bolster their liquidity. They are obviously worried about their tenants’ future financial performance, and they know that wages, utilities and food bills have to be paid before rent. One REIT, Ventas (NYSE: VTR), has already offered to defer 25% of April’s rent until October. They had the largest credit facility drawdown of $2.7 billion. May is just a month away, and the environment will surely be... Read More »
Five Star Senior Living Soars

Five Star Senior Living Soars

Shares of Five Star Senior Living have soared by more than 60% this year, leaving everyone guessing. Right after all the restructuring was completed at year end between Five Star Senior Living and its landlord, now recently re-named Diversified Healthcare Trust, Five Star’s shares have taken off.  Two points to remember, though. Five Star just doled out about 26.5 million shares to Diversified and its shareholders to remove working capital liabilities. And, last October 1 they completed a 1-10 reverse stock split. That is important because now that the shares are trading at over $6.00 per share, for comparison purposes, that would be 60 cents per share four months ago. It just shows... Read More »
New Year, New Name for Senior Housing Properties Trust

New Year, New Name for Senior Housing Properties Trust

While we were all up celebrating the New Year this past Wednesday, Senior Housing Properties Trust was kissing goodbye to its name, officially changing it to Diversified Healthcare Trust effective January 1, 2020. The company is still listed for trading on the NASDAQ but under the new ticker symbol of “DHC.” According to Jennifer Francis, President and Chief Operating Officer, the name-change better depicted the company’s portfolio of healthcare real estate (which encompasses medical office, life science and wellness centers in addition to senior living communities) and its strategy going forward. That fresh start was reinforced with the completion of DHC’s restructuring of its Five Star... Read More »