• Regional Owner/Operator Enters New State

    A regional owner/operator looking to enter the state of Indiana acquired Smith Farms Manor, an independent living community in Auburn, about 30 miles south of the Michigan border. Built in 1998, the community features 51 units and is well maintained. It sits on an attractive four-acre campus down the street from Parkview DeKalb Hospital and off... Read More »
  • Skilled Nursing Portfolio Gets New Operator

    Evans Senior Investments secured a new lease for a skilled nursing portfolio in Tennessee on behalf of an institutional owner. The portfolio features four assets and was operating below 70% occupancy with margins under 10%. Despite that performance, ESI secured a lease $3 million above in-place cash flow, reflecting the operational upside that... Read More »
  • Seniors Housing and Care M&A Remains Elevated in Q1:26

    The number of publicly announced seniors housing and care acquisitions in the first quarter of 2026 reached 231 deals, based on new acquisition data from LevinPro LTC. This represents a 19.8% decrease from the 288 transactions disclosed in the fourth quarter of 2025, but a 25.5% increase from the 184 deals in Q1:25.   “It was always going... Read More »
  • Clarion Acquires Again in Colorado

    Two years after opening a 160-unit seniors housing community in Centennial, Colorado (Denver MSA), MorningStar Senior Living announced an expanding relationship with Clarion Partners, a leading real estate investment company and specialty investment manager of Franklin Templeton, in its acquisition of MorningStar at Holly Park. The community... Read More »
  • Brookdale’s Summer Test Ahead

    Brookdale Senior Living reported its March occupancy results, and it unfortunately took another step in the wrong direction. We will get a better read when peers report first-quarter results and when NIC MAP releases its next tranche of occupancy data, but at this point, it seems as though Brookdale will need a particularly strong performance... Read More »
National Health Investors Secures Big Bank Financing

National Health Investors Secures Big Bank Financing

Utilizing its bank relationships, National Health Investors boosted its liquidity with a $100 million term loan provided by a syndicate of eight banks. The one-year loan came with an interest rate of 30-day LIBOR + 1.85%, with a 0.50% floor. NHI also has the right to extend the maturity date by another year.   Wells Fargo Bank acted as the administrative agent, while KeyBank, Bank of Montreal and Regions Bank acted as the syndication agents. The documentation agents were Bank of America, Capital One and Goldman Sachs Bank, which arranged the eight-bank syndicate including Pinnacle National Bank. Total commitments... Read More »
Seniors Housing Occupancy Slides Further, But Slower

Seniors Housing Occupancy Slides Further, But Slower

Well, it shouldn’t have surprised anyone, but occupancy levels for stabilized independent living and assisted living continued their drop in the month of May, according to NIC MAP. Across the country’s 31 largest metropolitan areas, assisted living properties first fell by 170 basis points from 87.8% in March (the first full month of the COVID-19 pandemic) to 86.1% in April. The sector occupancy fell by a lesser degree in May, by 90 basis points to 85.2%. So, in total, that is a 360-basis point drop for assisted living since the pandemic began.   The independent living sector has so far fared better than assisted living, but it also has the benefit of being in a stronger position going... Read More »
National Health Investors: What Pandemic?

National Health Investors: What Pandemic?

It seems that National Health Investors is doing just fine during this pandemic, as are its operators, apparently. The Tennessee-based REIT reported that it has collected 99.7% of its contractual rent in April, 100% in May, and so far, 99.4% in June. That should make shareholders feel pretty good right now.  On the occupancy front, excluding communities that have been open less than 24 months, it was not quite as rosy but nothing they can’t handle. For 41 same-community properties operated by Bickford Senior Living, occupancy has dropped 240 basis points, from 86.6% in March to 84.2% in May. The first quarter averaged 87.3%.   Senior Living... Read More »
REIT Sale/Leasebacks Are Not Dead

REIT Sale/Leasebacks Are Not Dead

It is very easy to say that sale/leaseback structures with REITs are dead, especially if your leases are dead in the water. But then you have to ask, why are they dead in the water, and why did you enter into long-term leases in the first place? You could have always financed your properties with debt at 70% to 80% loan-to-value, but the odds are you wanted to recapture some of your equity for growth (or your retirement), and there is always a price you pay for essentially leveraging your property 100%.   The real benefit of a sale/leaseback, in addition to the cash you take out, is that everything above the lease payment is yours. The REIT gets its fixed lease return,... Read More »
Brookdale Buys Eight NHI-Owned Communities

Brookdale Buys Eight NHI-Owned Communities

Brookdale Senior Living exercised its purchase option on eight assisted living communities that it operated on behalf of the owner, National Health Investors. The transaction was hinted at in NHI’s third quarter earnings report, which noted the properties as being held for sale. And Eric Mendelsohn, President and CEO, confirmed in the Q3 earnings call that the purchase price would start at a base of $37 million, with a fair market value component as high as $5 million which NHI and Brookdale would split 50-50. In the end, Brookdale paid $39.26 million, or $116,845 per unit. The eight communities, which were located in three states and totaled 336 units, contributed 2019 GAAP revenue of... Read More »