• 60 Seconds with Swett: Sticks and Bricks in ’26?

    The talk around new development is getting a lot more serious in the seniors housing industry, leading us to wonder if our 2024 prediction of “Sticks and Bricks in ‘26” may actually come true, somewhat. Back then, we may have thought that interest rates would have come down a bit more by now, but that the FOMO of getting involved in seniors... Read More »
  • Wyoming SNF Sale Sets New State Record

    There was a new record set for skilled nursing pricing in the state of Wyoming with the sale of Big Horn Rehabilitation and Care Center in Sheridan. Built in the 1960s, the facility features 128 beds and was 61% occupied. It was owned by a regional operator that was looking to recycle capital.  Before the marketing process, Evans Senior... Read More »
  • Owner/Operator Acquires Facility Out of Bankruptcy

    A senior care facility in Worcester, Massachusetts, sold as part of a bankruptcy process with the help of Patrick Burke and Toby Siefert of Senior Living Investment Brokerage. Built in 1970, Donna Kay Rest Home features 60 licensed beds in 31 units, providing a higher level of care and supervision than assisted living but at a lesser acuity than... Read More »
  • Civitas Sells Community to Clarion

    Hap Knowles and Nick Stahler of the Knapp-Stahler Group at Institutional Property Advisors announced that they led the sale of a seniors housing community in the Phoenix, Arizona MSA, to the fast-growing real estate investment firm Clarion Partners. The deal appears to be The Retreat at Alameda, a 110-unit assisted living/memory care community in... Read More »
  • Blueprint Handles Recapitalization

    Blueprint handled the recapitalization of Forest Hills Commons, a 2017-developed, 119-unit assisted living/memory care community in the Louisville, Kentucky MSA. A Louisville-based senior living owner/operator/developer engaged Blueprint in the third quarter of 2025 to begin the process. The asset demonstrated strong in-place performance and... Read More »
Five Star Not Shining

Five Star Not Shining

Hindsight is usually 20-20, and in the case of Five Star Senior Living, looking back two years, the company should have accepted the offer from Gemini Properties and the Thomas brothers of Senior Star, who offered to pay $325 million for 33 owned Five Star communities. They had already accumulated more than 6% of the company’s stock, an investment they most likely regret. But management, and really the then-controlling shareholder, the late Barry Portnoy, wanted nothing of it. In fact, Mr. Portnoy announced a tender offer to buy 10 million shares of Five Star at $3.00 per share to enhance his controlling position. That’s an investment where his estate would like a re-do. The Gemini/Senior... Read More »
Five Star and Senior Star… Again

Five Star and Senior Star… Again

Oh boy, here we go again. Bill and Bob Thomas have sent another letter to shareholders of Five Star Quality Care, of which they own about 3.4 million shares, or 6.8% of the company. As shareholders, they are glad that management realized that they had some valuable assets, the full value of which is not reflected in the share value. It rarely is. But, as we pointed out a few months ago when Five Star sold a few assets for a big price, and a big gain, with seven properties worth more than the market cap of the entire company, they are also subjecting themselves to a big lease payment liability, which will cut into cash flow. As shareholders, this is not making the Thomas brothers happy.... Read More »

Senior Star’s Five Star move

The Thomas Twins of Senior Star certainly had the right idea. Remember, they proposed buying all the owned properties of Five Star Senior Living for about $325 million, which we always assumed was an opening offer. Five Star has now agreed to sell just seven of its assisted living communities with 545 units to its REIT big brother, Senior Housing Properties Trust, in a sale/leaseback transaction. The price of $112.4 million comes to $206,200 per unit, and using that value (which we believe is high for the entire owned portfolio) on the remaining 26 owned properties with 2,666 units results in an additional $549 million in value. Five Star’s market cap, even after the nearly 40% jump in its... Read More »

Five Star Says No Deal

As expected, Five Star Quality Care has rejected the offer by an affiliate of Senior Star to purchase the 33 owned senior living communities for $325 million. Basically, the board said the assets are not for sale, and that the company could improve the value of the shares by improving earnings. Unfortunately, just improving earnings does not result in a higher stock value in this market. Just ask management at Capital Senior Living. So if someone will offer more for the owned real estate than what the entire company is worth, based on its current stock price, what would someone pay for the owned real estate and the operating company? That may be a question that Bill and Bob Thomas may try... Read More »

Seniors Housing Companies on the Defensive

Oh, what an end of the year. With just three publicly traded seniors housing companies, all three are under some sort of pressure to do something to increase shareholder value. First it was Brookdale Senior Living, then Capital Senior Living and now Five Star Quality Care. The owners of Senior Star have made an unsolicited offer to buy Five Star’s 33 owned communities with more than 3,100 units, with assisted living and memory care representing just over 75% of the total units and independent living the remainder. At a price of $325 million, or just over $100,000 per unit, the value to shareholders comes to more than $5.00 per share net of some mortgage debt. Five Star currently trades... Read More »