• 60 Seconds with Swett: Senior Care’s PR Problem

    Recently, we have seen stories circulating about the connection between REIT ownership and the way skilled nursing facilities provide care, stemming from a study written by the nonprofit journalism outlet KFF Health News. We’ve seen this before, headlines like “real estate investors profit while patients suffer,” usually with graphic cases of... Read More »
  • Blueprint Sets Pricing Record in New York State

    Blueprint advised a repeat private equity client in a record-setting sale of two standalone memory care communities in high barrier-to-entry submarkets in New York State. Combining for 104 units, these assets were purpose-built in the late 1990s and were stabilized at the time of the deal. Not only that, they were generating cash flow in excess... Read More »
  • CareTrust Keeps Its Foot on the Gas

    CareTrust REIT has deployed nearly $1 billion in closed transactions so far this year, after closing around $1.8 billion in investment activity in 2025, and its pipeline includes $450 million of near-term, actionable opportunities, excluding larger portfolio transactions. The REIT announced that it closed a few separate transactions in mid-April,... Read More »
  • VIUM Capital Announces Slew of HUD Closings

    VIUM Capital closed four HUD 232/223(f) financings in March totaling more than $63 million across a mix of skilled nursing and seniors housing communities. Two of the financings involved skilled nursing facilities in Oklahoma totaling 176 beds. The assets were originally acquired as part of a larger portfolio and refinanced following a... Read More »
  • Lument Secures HUD Express Lane Transaction

    Lument closed a refinance through HUD’s Express Lane for a 120-unit seniors housing community in Lincoln, Nebraska. Built in 2017, Pemberly Place Senior Living features 132 licensed beds and offers independent living, assisted living and memory care services. It also has an on-site medical clinic to offer a range of other healthcare services. The... Read More »

An Optimal Size for Skilled Nursing?

As the skilled nursing market evolves, lengths of stay and occupancy decline, and new entrants like Mainstreet change the way we view skilled nursing/post-acute care facilities, what is the ideal size of facility now? Based on 2016 sales according to the 22nd Edition of The Senior Care Acquisition Report, the average size of skilled nursing facilities sold dropped for the first time in three years to 122 beds, and was closer to the historical norm of 120 beds. That fell from 130 beds in 2015, and is the lowest since 2013, when facilities averaged 121 beds. The smallest facility sold in 2016 was 40 beds, compared with 30 beds in 2015, while the largest facility sold in 2016 was 744 beds,... Read More »
Mainstreet growth

Mainstreet growth

Mainstreet Health Investments (Mainstreet) is adding seven seniors housing and care properties to its portfolio from several sellers, representing a total purchase price of approximately $152 million. First, the company bought four Mainstreet Property Group (MPG)-developed transitional care/assisted living facilities, which are scheduled to open between November 2016 and March 2017 in Texas and Kansas, for $92.8 million, or almost $247,000 per bed, with a year-one cap rate of 7.7%. The Ensign Group will manage the facilities. Second, Mainstreet is acquiring one transitional care/memory care facility in Evanston, Illinois from its existing operating partner Symphony Post-Acute Network for... Read More »
Mainstreet goes to Liverpool

Mainstreet goes to Liverpool

Most people know Mainstreet as a developer in the post-acute care world, and a prolific one at that. After all, it’s the company’s high-end, amenity-rich transitional care developments that have made a big splash in the industry. But Mainstreet’s most recent acquisition involved a senior living community, which features 186 independent and assisted living units. The community is located just outside of Syracuse, New York, in the town of Liverpool, and was built in phases in 1992 and 1996. Owned and operated by a locally-based manager, The Hearth, the community also carried the Enriched Housing Program licensure designation. The Hearth will lease the community back from Mainstreet, which... Read More »
Age before location

Age before location

Highlighting a growing issue for the country’s aging skilled nursing facility inventory, a facility’s regional advantage may not matter much for owners of facilities in high barrier-to-entry markets looking to maximize value. Surprisingly, the Northeast region, because of its higher average income, property values and barriers to entry, saw the highest average cap rate of any region in 2015, at 13.3%. This is up 70 basis points from the average in 2014 of 12.6%, and up 90 basis points from 2013, when the region averaged the lowest cap rate in the country. Conversely, the North Central region, which has seen tremendous growth in skilled nursing development (buoyed by Mainstreet’s pipeline),... Read More »
Phoenix rises

Phoenix rises

There has been an uptick in seniors housing and care construction in the Phoenix area in just this year. First, Mainstreet announced its first development in the state of Arizona, breaking ground in mid-February on its 94-bed skilled nursing/assisted living facility at a cost of $21.9 million, or $233,000 per bed. The facility also is the first to be operated by Mainstreet Health, the developer’s new operating company. Then, Love Funding announced that it provided a $15 million bridge loan to finance the construction of a 90-unit assisted living/memory care community in the adjacent town of Peoria. The private pay community, which will feature 58 memory care units and 32 assisted living... Read More »