• Did Blackstone Sell Too Soon?

    According to recent media reports, real estate investor The Blackstone Group has sold and is in the process of selling about $1.8 billion in seniors housing assets. It wants to completely exit the seniors housing business which they claim has been a disaster for them. One report stated that they have lost upwards of $600 million across the... Read More »
  • Brookdale Continues Winning Streak

    The big question is, why did this not happen earlier? We are talking about Brookdale Senior Living’s occupancy recovery, and why the previous leadership seemed unable to move the needle, but as soon as they were gone, everything has been on an upward trend. Hmmmmm.  Things are not perfect at Brookdale, but they never were. However,... Read More »
  • National Health Investors Adjusts Its SHOP Portfolio

    National Health Investors, Inc. announced some adjustments to its SHOP portfolio, raising its full-year guidance for the third consecutive quarter due to the contribution of recently transitioned and newly acquired SHOP properties, along with continued strength in its investment pipeline. The REIT also had an update on its lease agreement with... Read More »
  • Strawberry Fields’ Three Separate SNF Transactions

    Strawberry Fields REIT, Inc. announced three separate skilled nursing transactions that closed during the third quarter. Two previously announced acquisitions were in Missouri, and the recently announced purchase was in Oklahoma.  In July, the REIT completed the acquisition of nine skilled nursing facilities with 686 beds in Missouri. The... Read More »
  • Receivership Estate Sells in Alabama

    Kory Buzin and Steve Thomes of Blueprint handled another successful sale on behalf of a lender and special servicer, this time involving a receivership estate in Mobile, Alabama. Knollwood Point, a 2001-vintage, 46-unit assisted living and memory care community, struggled in recent years as a result of challenged occupancy and volatile staffing.... Read More »
HCP, or Healthpeak Properties, Continues Brookdale Restructure

HCP, or Healthpeak Properties, Continues Brookdale Restructure

As if a new name wasn’t enough news. First, along with its third quarter earnings results, HCP, Inc. announced that it is changing its name to Healthpeak Properties, Inc. and will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the new name and ticker symbol “PEAK” on November 5. But then, the REIT announced a couple of large transactions, including the sale of a 46.5% interest in a portfolio of 19 Brookdale Senior Living-operated properties, an amended acquisition of 13 CCRCs from Brookdale and the divestment of the remaining interest in its United Kingdom holdings. Exits from the U.K. are all the rage these days. Starting with the Brookdale sale, HCP, sorry, Healthpeak agreed to form a new... Read More »
Gloves Come Off in Brookdale’s Proxy Fight

Gloves Come Off in Brookdale’s Proxy Fight

The proxy cards are in the mail to Brookdale Senior Living’s shareholders for the vote at the annual meeting, to be held on October 29, and it looks like CEO Cindy Baier has taken the gloves off. Brookdale has been fighting shareholder Land & Buildings’ nominee for a board position, Jay Flaherty, for many weeks. But now they are bringing up some of Mr. Flaherty’s past transgressions which, according to Brookdale, make “him unfit to serve as a member of Brookdale’s Board.” These transgressions include some foul play in 2011 when he was CEO of HCP, Inc., which resulted in a $101.7 million judgment against HCP, for which the court stated that HCP engaged in “fraudulent conduct with the... Read More »
The Great Development Slowdown

The Great Development Slowdown

Everyone is talking about development slowing down, but over development is just part of the problem. We have been hearing it for a few months: seniors housing development is slowing down, based on fewer new construction starts. We have heard it from NIC MAP, from HCVenTower, and now Brookdale Senior Living. They are all saying that in many of their markets, they are seeing light at the end of the over-development tunnel. Maybe. It is one thing if new starts are declining, but it is quite another to fill the current empty units plus the new supply that is currently opening, and going to open. Let’s just say, we are not out of the woods yet, and census is only one part of the problem. Not... Read More »
Brookdale Activists Strike Again

Brookdale Activists Strike Again

We disclosed last week that activist investor Land & Buildings (L&B) had nominated Jay Flaherty, former CEO of HCP, Inc., and Jonathan Litt (founder of L&B) for board election at the 2019 annual meeting of Brookdale Senior Living. L&B has just sent an open letter to Brookdale shareholders providing more rationale for the election of these two candidates. Apparently, L&B hired Green Street Advisors to value Brookdale and its real estate assets, and to provide an opinion as to the feasibility of a PropCo/OpCo split of the company, something Litt has been pushing for quite a while now to enhance shareholder value. Not surprisingly, preliminarily they determined that... Read More »
HCP, or Healthpeak Properties, Continues Brookdale Restructure

May’s M&A Deal Boom

Do buyer’s see a bottom? That is one explanation for the incredibly busy start to May, which has seen 21 acquisitions announced, so far, according to our M&A database DealSearchOnline. And that does not include deals that may bubble to the surface in the coming weeks. So, with seniors housing occupancy still relatively low and the labor supply and cost problem not diminishing, why are so many increasing their interests in the senior care market? Those problems may well be the answer, if buyers believe we are at an operational bottom for the industry. It seems a number of big companies are betting that’s the case, with a number of them announcing large acquisitions and initiatives that... Read More »