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Ecumen Names New CFO

Non-profit senior housing provider Ecumen has named Morshed Alam to the role of senior vice president and CFO.

In his new role, Alam will lead Ecumen’s team of financial services professionals. He previously worked as the director of finance and financial planning and analysis for Medtronic’s restorative therapies group.

Welltower Appoints Global Head of Senior Housing

Welltower (NYSE: WELL) has named Justin Skiver to the title of senior vice president, global head of senior housing.

Skiver has worked with Welltower for about a decade, and most recently worked as senior vice president, international. He also has held the titles of senior vice president, underwriting and vice president of corporate investments.

Civitas Promotes Lane to Chief Wellness Officer

Civitas Senior Living promoted Bobby Lane to work as its chief wellness officer.

Lane first joined Civitas as an executive director in 2015 and most recently worked as the senior vice president of wellness.

He succeeds Misty Miller, who formerly held the position before becoming the company’s COO.

Frontline Management Names Chief Investment Officer

Frontline Management this month named Mohammed Yacoubi its new chief investment officer.

In his new role, Yacoubi is responsible for implementing investment policies, leading acquisitions and asset management and maintaining relationships with investors.

Mohammed has more than 18 years of real estate and private equity experience.

Former Thrive President Joins Lloyd Jones as EVP of Senior Living

Lloyd Jones, a senior housing and multifamily investment firm, recently named Tod Petty as executive vice president of Lloyd Jones Senior Living.

The new role will make Petty responsible for the company’s senior properties, new developments and its third-party management business. Prior to joining Lloyd Jones, Petty worked as president of Thrive Senior Living.

Sagora Appoints New Sales VP

Sagora Senior Living has named Greg Southwell as the company’s vice president of sales.

Southwell will help grow business in Sagora’s markets across the country. He has more than 20 years of sales experience, half of that in senior housing. He’s previously worked for Humana and Holiday Retirement.

Benchmark Communities Name Nursing, Resident Directors

Two different Benchmark communities have announced new directors of nursing and resident care.

Wellington at Hershey’s Mill, a Benchmark Senior Living community in West Chester, Pennsylvania, has welcomed Ashleigh Ryan as its director of nursing.

Ryan will now oversee the community’s nursing personnel, patient care and administrative tasks including keeping records and setting budgets.

At Bedford Falls, a Benchmark assisted living community in Bedford, New Hampshire, the company is welcoming Melissa Moody as a resident care director.

Moody previously worked as a resident care director for LCB Senior Living. Before that, she was also a regional nurse specialist with Benchmark for seven years.

Watermark Community in Florida Names Two Directors

The Watermark at Trinity, an assisted living and memory care community in Trinity, Florida, recently appointed David Kendrick and Merav Halevi to the new roles of associate engagement director and resident engagement director, respectively.

As associate engagement director, Kendrick is tasked with developing programs to recognize employee achievements, foster wellness and improve engagement at the community. He has 17 years of health care experience, most recently having worked as director of human resources for MHC Gracepoint Behavioral Health.

Halevi, meanwhile, will work on the independent living side with the community’s executive director. There, she will help oversee resident engagement and satisfaction and day-to-day operations. Halevi has 17 years of experience in human resources, coaching and business management, and previous worked as the human resource director and business office manager for The Watermark at Trinity.

Atlas Names Executive Director for Forthcoming Community

Atlas Senior Living has named Robin Raben as the executive director for its forthcoming Legacy Reserve at Old Town community in Columbus, Georgia.

Raben, who started earlier this month, is now responsible for the community’s day-to-day operations and management. Raben has worked in the health care industry since 2000, and has held regional director and executive director roles.

Legacy Reserve at Old Town is expected to open in September, 2020.

Oakmont Community in California Welcomes New Executive Director

Oakmont Senior Living has hired Shawn Amirhoushmand to work as the executive director of Oakmont of Pacific Beach, a senior living community in San Diego.

Amirhoushmand previously worked in post-acute care for more than two decades. He has also served as co-chair for the San Diego Organization of Healthcare Leaders, and the San Diego Board of Supervisors recently appointed him a member of the Health Services Advisory Board.

Erickson Living Promotes Jean to Lead New Jersey Community

Erickson Living has promoted Phil Jean to work as the executive director of Seabrook, a CCRC in Tinton Falls, New Jersey.

Jean first joined Erickson Living in 2016 as the associate executive director at Linden Ponds in Hingham, Massachusetts. Overall, he has more than 20 years of experience in the health care industry.

Senior Star Welcomes New Executive Director in Kansas City

Senior Star has appointed Connie Haworth as the executive director of its Senior Star at Villa Ventura community in Kansas City.

Haworth has more than 25 years of senior housing leadership experience. She most recently worked as a senior living consultant.

Connecticut CCRC Appoints Director of Nursing

Connecticut CCRC Edgehill has named Michael Oloke as its director of nursing.

He is tasked with overseeing nursing personnel and patient care and handing administrative tasks like keeping records and budgeting.

Oloke previously worked as as assistant director of nursing at the New Carlton Rehabilitation & Nursing Center. He has a decade of experience overall.

Legacy Names Director of Rabbinical Services, Programs

The Legacy Senior Communities has appointed Rabbi Michael Cohen as director of rabbinical services and programs.

Cohen has more than a decade of rabbinical experience and has provided for a variety of spiritual needs for people of all faiths.

Florida Life Plan Community Hires Executive Chef

East Ridge at Cutler Bay, a life plan community in Cutler Bay, Florida, has named Stan Hodes to the role of executive chef.

Hodes previously worked as executive chef and manager of dining services operations for the Baptist Hospital of Miami. He also has worked at Marriott, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruise Lines and the Chef of Kings Bay Country Club.

Blueprint Promotes Thomes to Head of Business Development

Blueprint has promoted Steve Thomes to the role of senior managing director and head of business development.

Thomes has worked with Blueprint to help build and manage client relationships, mostly on the East Coast. He has nearly 15 years of experience in the senior housing and health care industries.

Blueprint also named Ryan Chase senior managing director and head of market strategy. Additionally, co-founders Ben Firestone, Christopher Hyldahl, and Jacob Gehl are now executive managing directors.

JLL Bolsters Senior Housing Valuation Services

JLL has hired Shawn James O’Connor as an executive vice president in its valuation advisory business.

In his new role, he will focus on senior housing valuation in the Rocky Mountain region in addition to general valuation services in Denver.

This hiring marks a reunion between O’Connor and JLL. He previously worked with the firm appraising senior housing portfolios from 1999 to 2017.

Cushman & Wakefield Adds to Senior Housing Capital Markets Team

Cushman & Wakefield has added Jay Jordan to its senior housing capital markets team, which focuses on the sale of senior housing assets throughout the U.S.

In his new role, Jay will help originate and execute senior housing sales. He’ll also lend advice on debt and provide capital solutions to clients in need of structured financing.

Jay most recently worked for private equity firm Directed Capital.

CBRE Names Senior Housing Leader

CBRE announced recently named James Graber as national leader of senior housing and health care for its valuation and advisory services team.

Graber, who is now a managing director, will lead a national team focused on valuation and advisory services for senior housing assets, including active adult, independent living, assisted living, memory care, skilled nursing and continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs).

He has more than 13 years of experience in the senior housing and health care industries.

The post Movers & Shakers: New Ecumen CFO; Welltower Names Global Head of Senior Housing appeared first on Senior Housing News.

Not long ago, Benchmark was struggling.

Although it had built a reputation as a leading senior living operator, the Waltham, Massachusetts-based company was staring down new competition and declining business results. Benchmark’s occupancy had fallen to below 88% in 2017, a departure from the 93% occupancy rate the company had grown accustomed to over the years. And the nearly 12% price premium it once enjoyed over competitors had almost evaporated.

Making matters worse, the company’s chairman and CEO, Tom Grape, was facing some challenges of his own.

In 2011, he stepped back from Benchmark to work through a difficult divorce, one which ultimately dragged on for five years. And although the divorce had wound down by 2016, it took its toll on the company’s leader, as he described in a recent talk at the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) annual conference, and in a followup interview with Senior Housing News.

“I was emotionally and mentally distracted and not as engaged as I’d been before,” Grape told SHN. “I was still here, but I had a big distraction in my life that was taking a large part of my focus away.”

Meanwhile, faced with a worsening business outlook, a culture of fear had set in at Benchmark, and many seasoned employees were heading for the exits.

“People were feeling like we lost our mojo,” Grape said. “We had always taken great pride in our culture. We won awards for it. So, this was a real departure.”

Grape, who founded the company in 1997, thought that something needed to change, and soon. It was clear to him that the problems were even bigger than Benchmark — the senior living industry was at a crossroads, meaning whatever change occurred had to be transformational for the company, which today has 60 communities spread across eight states and nearly $500 million in annual revenue.

“It began with a belief that what the industry is going to go through in the next 20 to 30 years is very dynamic change,” Grape said. “To prepare for that, we needed to revisit who we were at our core, not just launch some new initiative or new project.”

‘Short, pithy, memorable’

After realizing Benchmark needed to a major change, Grape got to work rebooting the company’s soul: its purpose statement. In doing so, he looked to business author Jim Collins for inspiration.

Collins, who’s authored books such as “Built to Last” and “Good to Great,” has said that great companies have great purpose statements. In crafting their purpose statements, companies should focus not on what they make, but what they stand for, according to Collins.

“He talks about how great companies have great purpose statements that are galvanizing and compelling,” Grape said. “They should follow three criteria — short, pithy and memorable — so that everybody can grab hold of them.”

With that in mind, Benchmark’s two previous purpose statements — “creatively improving the experience of aging” and “to build a great company providing world class senior living experiences” — simply didn’t pass muster.

“They had some nice words to them … but I’m not sure a lot of associates in the company could remember them,” Grape said.

Grape reflected back to all the letters and compliments the company had received over its history. He recalled that he never got a letter that complimented Benchmark simply on its real estate or services — those were the “table stakes,” he said. Instead, residents and their family members heaped praise on the company for the way it fostered social interactions among them.

And like that, he had arrived on Benchmark’s next purpose statement: “to elevate human connection.”

“It’s three words, it’s simple and it doesn’t say ‘senior living,’” Grape said. “It’s about a grander calling, and it’s something that conveys to everybody what they’re supposed to do.”

When Grape took his purpose statement back to his colleagues at Benchmark, “their eyes lit up,” he said.

“Everybody got it, and people felt like that’s why they got into senior living,” he added. “To this day, there’s great enthusiasm about it.”

‘Put the kick-ass back in Benchmark’

With a new purpose statement in hand, Grape held a town hall meeting — his first since he re-emerged from the divorce process. His first order of business: addressing the cultural problems that had plagued Benchmark in recent times.

“The first thing I did was apologize to people for the culture having gotten to where it was,” Grape said. “[I also said] we need to put the kick-ass back in Benchmark, and I got a standing ovation when I said that.”

With the help of other members of the company’s leadership team, Grape also overhauled the company’s values statement down to just three phrases: called to care, better together, be the Benchmark.

A new purpose statement and new values in hand, Benchmark underwent a rebranding in 2018. Meanwhile, things have improved steadily over the past two years.

More than 300 associates who left the company returned — and for no reason other than the culture had shifted, Grape said. Benchmark’s occupancy rate for its core portfolio also grew to 90.2% in August 2019, representing a 2.8% gain from the 87.4% occupancy Benchmark logged in January 2017.

The company’s operating margin for its core stabilized portfolio has grown 130 basis points since 2017, and turnover rates have dropped from 48% in 2017 to 43% in 2019. Executive director turnover, meanwhile, is now below 20% annually.

“It’s been a remarkable turn,” Grape said. “Virtually every measure took a significant turn to the positive.”

Now that Benchmark is on a better trajectory, the company is broadening its focus from being a senior living company to one that fosters human connections. Part of that strategy means collecting a wide swath of data on its customers.

“We want to be a more customer-intimate company than our competitors,” Grape said. “We’re trying to play that game by collecting as much customer data as we can to be smarter than anybody else about who we’re serving and what their preferences are.”

The senior living provider is also continuing to develop communities, including ones that cater to the middle-market under the brand name The Branches. Benchmark currently has one Branches community open, with two others slated to open this year and next.

“We’re viewing [these Branches communities] as early pilots,” Grape said. “We see these first three as opportunities to learn, and we’ll go from there.”

The company also formed a wellness division earlier this year with a focus on new, urban communities. Benchmark tapped Denise McQuaide, a longtime senior living and health care executive, to lead the division as president and COO.

Benchmark also has a new capital partner in KKR following Welltower’s (NYSE: WELL) decision to dispose of its 48-property ownership interest in the operator for a gross sale price of $1.8 billion. Under the arrangement, Benchmark will continue as operator for those communities.

In the months and years to come, Benchmark will seek to stay ahead of the curve, with data collection and marketing at the forefront.

“We’re shifting ourselves from being a senior living operating company, which I described as a Blockbuster strategy in a Netflix world, to becoming a human connection company,” Grape said. “We’re really focusing intently on getting to know our customers better than we knew them in the past.”

The post How Benchmark Rebounded After Losing Its ‘Mojo’ appeared first on Senior Housing News.

Robust senior housing acquisition activity is likely to continue into 2020, driven by the continued low interest rate environment as well as the increased focus on middle-market products and the creation of multi-brand portfolios.

That middle-market focus is also driving more interest from big players in secondary and tertiary markets, which are friendlier to this price point. As a result, look for more competition and potentially higher prices for Class-B product.

These are among the end-of-the-year market insights that three industry professionals — Ted Flagg with JLL Capital Markets; Laca Wong Hammond with OREC Securities LLC; and Mario Wilson with Helios Healthcare Advisors — recently shared with Senior Housing News.

Portfolio deals inflating cap rate spreads

Pricing on senior housing deals hit a high point of nearly $225,000 on an average price-per-unit basis in 2017, according to data from Irving Levin Associates’ Seniors Housing Acquisition and Investment Report. Since that time, prices have fallen, particularly in assisted living, which declined 16% to $186,400 between 2017 and 2018 — although some investors remain concerned about inflated pricing on certain assets.

Meanwhile, cap rates have correspondingly risen steadily since reaching a nadir of 6.8% in the fourth quarter of 2017.

This year, the difference in cap rate percentages between Class-A senior housing (7.3%) and Class-B and C product (8.8%) is 150 basis points, according to data from Irving Levin.

The differential includes major transactions such as Welltower’s (NYSE: WELL) $1.8 billion sale in July of its Benchmark Senior Living portfolio to private equity firm KKR, and Ventas’ (NYSE: VTR) $1.8 billion deal in June for an 85% stake in Canadian senior housing developer and operator Le Groupe Maurice, OREC Managing Director of Mergers and Acquisitions Laca Wong-Hammond told SHN.

Excluding the billion-dollar deals and one discovers that pricing and cap rates have remained level for Class-A and Class-B product in 2019, in spite of numerous market headwinds such as a steady stream of new supply, labor costs, decreasing census and continued discounting.

A confluence of factors is keeping pricing stable — the main one being a historic low interest rate environment. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left the 10-year Treasury Bond rate unchanged, allowing it to fluctuate between 1.5% and 1.75%, and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell predicted no further cuts to the rate in 2020. This allows investors to be more aggressive in their bids, which impacts cap rates.

“With the rate being so low, you tag on a spread to that and investors have more buying power than before with the same amount of equity capital,” Wong-Hammond said.

It’s also worth noting that cap rates are falling out of favor as the primary metric for evaluating deal pricing, JLL Capital Markets Senior Managing Director and Healthcare Practice Co-Head Ted Flagg told SHN. Rather, the more straightforward per-unit pricing for senior housing has replaced cap rate as the primary valuation metric in most senior housing transactions in 2019.

“Cap rate price quotes are so frequently distorted that smart players tend to ask about per pound values as one of the first questions on a deal,” Flagg said.

Targeting Class-B product for middle market use

Going forward, expect two new macro drivers behind repricing of core and non-core senior housing buckets. One is demand for high-end senior housing versus demand for middle-market senior housing. The latter will lead to more capital seeking Class-B opportunities, Flagg told SHN.

Recent analysis from the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) indicated that nearly 1 million new senior housing units will be needed by 2040 to meet growing demand from baby boomers. This demographic will enter the senior living space with more debt and less savings than previous generations.

“Traditional B seniors product will draft off the massive and imminent demand for middle income seniors product,” Flagg said.

The Big 3 health care real estate investment trusts (REITs) — Welltower, Ventas and Healthpeak Properties (NYSE: PEAK) — are seeking out more acquisition and development opportunities in secondary and tertiary markets, based on demographic trends, Helios Founding Partner and Managing Director Mario Wilson told SHN.

One example of such a market is in Wisconsin, where Chinese electronics manufacturer Foxconn is building a large — though controversial — plant in the southeastern part of the state.

Wilson predicts the REITs’ ease of access to capital and the low interest rate environment will result in a secondary market building boom.

“Existing relationships between operators and REITs, along with changes in REIT laws, mean the Big 3 will now build, at cap rates similar to what they find in acquisitions,” he said.

But REITs, core funds, family office funds and foreign capital continue to show an insatiable appetite for Class-A, recession-resistant opportunities, and high per-unit pricing for urban senior deals will create upward pressure on traditional core product as the market starts to underwrite the two product types on a relative basis, Flagg noted.

Those investors are also looking into the middle-market space. Welltower struck a partnership with Clover Management, giving it a growing middle-market platform. The Carlyle Group and Greystar have partnered on the middle-market Overture brand.

“The first-mover platforms that offer both sides of the quality barbell of urban and middle income will attract as much capital as they want and their business plans can support. Furthermore, investors in those platforms will be rewarded because urban and middle income are complementary hedged positions that work well together through changing market cycles,” Flagg said.

Multi-branding grows

Another emerging and related trend in the value-add space is an influx of higher quality operators acquiring second brands, giving them a presence in the Class-A and Class-B space.

The multi-brand play largely revolves around different brands for various price points; however, some owners and operators are also creating separate brands based on other considerations such as care level.

The most recent example of this trend is Merrill Gardens’ acquisition of Blue Harbor Senior Living, which operates 21 communities in 13 states. Blue Harbor will serve as Merrill Gardens’ middle-market brand, incoming President Tana Gall told SHN.

Merrill Gardens did not disclose the acquisition price for the Blue Harbor portfolio, which previously was owned by private equity firm Fortress (NYSE: FIG). However, Flagg thinks that the company leaders likely made a shrewd calculation, noting that the company previously sold a sizable portfolio of B-quality assets in 2013.

“I would give the Merrill Gardens management team benefit of the doubt on market timing,” he said. “The Merrill buy and sell suggest a historically-wide pricing delta between A and B asset quality today favoring the buyside for B platform strategies addressing the middle market opportunity.”

Other operators pursuing a multi-brand strategy include Eclipse Senior Living, which is launching a higher end brand dubbed Evoke in addition to its middle-market brands, Elmcroft and Embark. Pathway to Living has found success with its Aspired Living brand, while its Azpira Place brand targets middle-market assisted living.

The post Middle-Market Plays to Reshape Senior Living Acquisition Activity, Prices appeared first on Senior Housing News.

Affiliations

AccentCare, Seasons Hospice to Merge

AccentCare Inc. and Seasons Hospice announced a merger, Senior Housing News sister publication Home Health Care News reports. The deal brings Dallas-based AccentCare, one of the five largest home health care companies in the country, and Seasons, one of the top five largest hospice providers, under one corporate umbrella.

Once the merger is completed, the combined company will be one of the largest in terms of geographic footprint and array of services provided, with reverberations across the long-term care continuum.

As a combined organization, AccentCare and Seasons can provide a full continuum of care for patients, providing a seamless entry point for skilled home-based care, and transitions to attendant care, palliative care, and hospice. Its scale and ability to function as a single provider will be attractive for senior living operators, AccentCare Vice President, Marketing & Communications Darin Szilagyi told Senior Housing News.

Sales and operator transitions

Benchmark acquires New Hampshire memory care facility

Benchmark Senior Living acquired the real estate and operations of Evolve at Rye, a 40-unit, 64-bed memory care facility in Rye, New Hampshire.

Avamere adds Oregon memory care community

The Avamere Family of Companies added a new memory care community in Bend, Oregon to its portfolio. The Arbor at Bend, formerly known as Mill View Memory Care, joined Avamere Living on November 1.

Blueprint completes 2 transactions

Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors completed the following transactions:

• Senior Managing Director and Head of Business Development Steve Thomes and Managing Director Michael Segal represented Sentara Healthcare in the disposition of its portfolio of skilled nursing and senior housing facilities totaling 876 total beds throughout southern Virginia. The buyer is Omega Healthcare Investors, which then leased the facilities to its operating partner, Saber Healthcare Group, expanding the master lease deal between the two.
• Segal, along with Senior Director Alex Florea and General Counsel Joshua Salzman, represented a REIT owner in the sale of Lakeland Hills Senior Living, a 170-unit senior living community in Dallas. The buyer is a Maryland-based private equity investor.

SLIB completes sale of Michigan senior living campus

Senior Living Investment Brokerage Managing Directors Brad Clousing and Ryan Saul, along with Senior Associate Joe Young, facilitated the sale of The Colonnades, a 38-unit assisted living facility, and The Carriage House, a 120-bed skilled nursing facility. Both are located in Bay City, Michigan. The seller, a family-based business, is exiting the senior living industry.

Bridgewood Property Company acquires land in North Carolina for senior housing development

Bridgewood Property Company recently acquired land in Charlotte, North Carolina, and plans to build The Village on Moorehead, a 12-story, 200-unit senior housing community. Groundbreaking is slated for Spring 2021.

United Properties acquires land for Minnesota senior housing development

United Properties closed on an eight-acre parcel of land in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Five acres are slated for a new 55-plus independent living rental community, ThePOINTE Minnetonka; the remaining three acres will be slated for development at a future date.

United Church Homes acquires 2 Ohio communities

United Church Homes acquired two age-restricted senior apartment communities — Harbor Woods Living at Brunswick in Brunswick, Ohio and Harbor Woods Living at Niles in Niles, Ohio — from Harbor Woods Living. Each community is a four-story, 127-unit building for seniors age 55 and older, in 127 one- and two-bedroom units.

Financings

Ziegler advises on $43M acquisition financing package

Ziegler was the exclusive capital structuring advisor for Radiant Senior Living in a $42.6 million debt placement for the acquisition of three senior housing communities — two near Seattle and a third in Bozeman, Montana. The portfolio consists of 36 independent living units and 204 assisted living units.

Radiant acquired the portfolio from a publicly traded health care REIT as part of their expansion efforts across the country. The properties enjoy in-place, stabilized cash flow and provide opportunity for additional upside through operational efficiencies due to scale. Post-acquisition, Radiant’s portfolio totals 18 communities spanning across six states in the Pacific Northwest. Ziegler Senior Vice President Eric Johnson arranged and negotiated the transaction.

KeyBank secures $31M refinancing for Ohio affordable senior housing property

KeyBank Real Estate Capital (KBREC) and KeyBanc Capital Markets (KBCM) secured a $31 million refinancing package on behalf of National Church Residences to renovate Carnegie Tower at Fairfax, a 12-story, Section 8 apartment building in Cleveland for seniors age 62 and older, located next to the Cleveland Clinic.

KBREC provided $14 million of permanent financing via a Department of Housing and Urban Development 221(d)4 construction-to-permanent loan, and KBCM sold $17 million of required tax-exempt bonds. Additionally, KeyBank Community Development Corporation provided $10 million of low-income housing tax credit equity to purchase credits awarded to the project.

Robbie Lynn of KBREC’s Commercial Mortgage Group and Kelly Frank and Ryan Olman of KeyBank’s Community Development Lending and Investment team structured the financing. Sam Adams of KBCM led the sale and structuring of the publicly offered tax-exempt bonds.

Ratings Outlooks

Fitch affirms ratings outlooks on 3 CCRCs

Fitch Ratings affirmed the ratings on the following CCRCs:

• Linden Ponds, a community in Hingham, Massachusetts operated by Erickson Living, retained a “BB” rating on $117 million in Series 2018 revenue bonds issued by the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency. This reflects Linden Ponds’ constrained long-term liability profile, which is characterized by a manageable debt burden and hindering subordinate debt structure. The rating outlook is stable.
• Fitch affirmed the “BBB+” rating on $75 million in Series 2017 revenue bonds issued by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission on behalf of Horizon House, a life plan community in Seattle. Key ratings drivers include strong demand, particularly for Horizon House’s independent living segment, an improved liquidity position and solid operational performance. The rating outlook is stable.
• Fitch affirmed the “BBB” rating on $180 million in Series 2011, Series 2013A, Series 2016A, and Series 2018A revenue bonds issued by Indiana Finance Authority on behalf of BHI Senior Living in Indianapolis. Key rating drivers include consistently strong operational performance, robust demand at multiple campuses, ample liquidity and an elevated long-term liability profile. The rating outlook is stable.

Miscellaneous

Standard Communities provides Covid-19 protection kits to residents

Standard Communities provided free Covid-19 protection kits to approximately 18,500 residents of its nearly 9,200 affordable and senior apartment units across the country.

The post Transactions & Financings: AccentCare, Seasons Hospice Merging; Ziegler’s $42M Financing Package appeared first on Senior Housing News.

Sales and operator transitions

Capital Senior Living completes $18M sale of Ohio community

Capital Senior Living (NYSE: CSU) completed the sale of a senior living community in Canton, Ohio. The sale price was $18 million, and provided $6.4 million in net cash proceeds to the operator. Additionally, Capital Senior Living was retained by the new owner to manage the community and will receive a management fee equal to 5% of community revenue, which is expected to contribute approximately $350,000 in annualized 2021 revenue.

The community consists of 92 independent living units, 102 assisted living units and 36 memory care units.

Meridian Senior Living sells Wisconsin community

Meridian Senior Living completed the sale of The Woods of Caledonia, a senior living community in Racine, Wisconsin, according to property transfers reviewed by Racine County Eye. The buyer is an Illinois-based owner.

Blueprint sells Utah assisted living and memory care facility

Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors Executive Managing Director and Co-Founder Jacob Gehl, Senior director Amy Sitzman and Senior Associate Giancarlo Riso facilitated the sale of a 42-unit assisted living and memory care facility in Park City, Utah. The seller is an ownership group based in the Pacific Northwest. The buyer is an established owner-operator with a track record of success in Utah.

Benchmark acquires New Hampshire memory care facility

Benchmark Senior Living acquired the real estate and operations of Evolve at Rye, a 40-unit, 64-bed memory care facility in Rye, New Hampshire. Cushman & Wakefield National Senior Housing Capital Markets Vice Chairman Rick Swartz, Executive Managing Director Jay Wagner, Director Sam Dylag and Analyst Jack Griffin secured acquisition financing on behalf of Benchmark for the transaction, through Harbor One Bank.

JCH Senior Housing completes $5.4M sale of California assisted living, skilled nursing facility

JCH Senior Housing Investment Brokerage President Cindy Hazzard and Associate Jennifer Contreras completed a $5.4 million sale of a combination 64-bed skilled nursing and 49-bed assisted living facility in Riverside County, California. While occupancy was relatively stable at the SNF, the census at the Assisted Living was virtually non-existent with the appraiser allotting no value to the Assisted Living portion. JCH also assisted the buyer in setting-up a lease with a local assisted living operator looking to expand in the area.

Financings

NHI provides $22M development loan for Wisconsin senior housing community

National Health Investors (NYSE:NHI) is providing a $22.2 million loan for the development of The Courtyard of Sussex, a 110-unit independent living, assisted living and memory care community in Sussex, Wisconsin. The loan carries a four-year loan with an annual interest rate of 8.5% and two one-year extensions. NHI has a purchase option on the property once it has stabilized. Construction will begin immediately and is expected to be completed within 18 months.

The community will be operated by 41 Management, a growing operating partnership of NHI’s that now includes eight properties.

Ratings Outlooks

Fitch affirms ratings outlooks on 3 CCRCs

Fitch Ratings announced ratings assignments, affirmations or changes to the following CCRCs:

• Fitch assigned a ‘BBB+” rating to approximately $122.8 million of series 2020A senior living revenue refunding bonds to be issued by National Finance Authority on behalf of the Springpoint Senior Living Obligated Group. Fitch has also assigned a “BBB+” issuer default rating to the group. The rafting outlook is stable, reflecting Springpoint’s status as a diversified provider, operating six CCRCs in primary markets across New Jersey.
• Fitch affirmed the “BB+” rating on approximately $25 million of Series 2013 and $53 million of Series 2015 fixed rate revenue bonds issued by the Illinois Finance Authority on behalf of Plymouth Place, a CCRC in LaGrange, Illinois. The rating outlook is stable, reflecting solid operating margins despite the coronavirus pandemic, as well as positive demographic trends in its market.
• Fitch affirmed the “BB+” rating on the following bonds issued by Lancaster County Hospital Authority (PA) on behalf of Brethren Village (BV): $93.6 million in Series 2017 revenue bonds; and $9.3 million in Series 2015 revenue bonds. The rating outlook is stable, reflecting a stable demand profile, consistent operations throughout the pandemic, and sufficient and growing liquidity.

Miscellaneous

Five Star Senior Living receives J.D. Power Awards for 2020 senior living satisfaction study

Five Star Senior Living (Nasdaq: FVE) ranked second nationally in overall customer satisfaction in independent living and fourth overall in assisted living/memory care in J.D. Power’s 2020 U.S. Senior Living Satisfaction study, which was conducted from June through August.

The post Transactions & Financings: Capital Senior Living Sells Ohio Community; NHI’s $22M Development Loan appeared first on Senior Housing News.

Sales and operator transitions

Life Care Services assumes management of former Rose Senior Living communities

Life Care Services assumed management of six communities owned by Rose Senior Living, an operator based in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

The communities include:

• Heritage at Irene Woods, Memphis, Tennessee
• Rose Senior Living and Rose Villas, Avon, Ohio
• Rose Senior Living, Beachwood, Ohio
• Rose Senior Living, Carmel, Indiana
• Rose Senior Living, Clinton Township, Michigan
• Rose Senior Living at Providence Park, Novi, Michigan

Additionally, Life Care Services is under agreement to manage a seventh community currently in development – Rose Senior Living in Farmington Hills, Michigan, which is scheduled to break ground later this year. The portfolio was previously managed by Ecumen.

Foundry Commercial venture acquires Kansas community

FSL Senior Living Ventures, a senior housing joint venture from Foundry Commercial and Foster Senior Living, acquired The Piper, a 120-unit senior housing community in Kansas City, Kansas. The community includes 60 assisted living units, 20 memory care units and 20 physician-directed care units.

Fundamental Advisors, in partnership with Scribner Capital, provided the joint venture equity for the acquisition. Ziegler Managing Director Dan Revie and Vice President Tedd Van Gorden represented the seller in the transaction.

Benchmark becomes part owner, will operate Connecticut retirement community

Benchmark Senior Living became a part-owner and will assume operations of Meadow Ridge, a continuing care retirement community in Redding, Connecticut and the largest CCRC in the state. Affiliates of Senior Care Development will retain majority ownership. Benchmark now operates the two largest CCRCs in Fairfield County, Connecticut.

SLIB completes $8M sale of California assisted living and memory care community

Senior Living Investment Brokerage Managing Director Jason Punzel, along with Vice Presidents Brad Goodsell and Vince Viverito, were the sole brokers in the $7.8 million sale of a 90-unit assisted living and memory care community in Orangevale, California. The buyer is a smaller owner/operator with a strong footprint in the area. The seller is a northern California-based nonprofit operator.

Cushman & Wakefield sells Colorado infill site to Harrison Street venture

Cushman & Wakefield National Senior Housing Capital Markets Vice Chairman Richard Swartz, Executive Managing Director Jay Wagner, Managing Director Aaron Rosenzweig, Senior Director Jim Dooley and Associate Bailey Nygard arranged the sale of a high quality, urban infill development site in the affluent Cherry Creek suburb of Denver. The fully entitled site was purchased by a joing venture of Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, Ryan Companies and Cadence Living.

The joint venture will develop a seven-story, mid-rise building totaling 137 units of independent and assisted living space. Cushman & Wakefield served as the exclusive advisor to Titan Development and supported Ryan Companies with helping to source the development equity partner.

Blueprint sells 2 Massachusetts assisted living facilities

Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors Senior Directors Connor Doherty and Amy Sitzman, along with Senior Associate Giancarlo Riso and Associate Ryan Kelly, were the sole brokers in the sale of two assisted living properties in Massachusetts totaling 195 units.

The buyer is a partnership between an experienced real estate investor with an existing home health business Massachusetts seeking to expand their health care portfolio, and a seasoned seniors housing operator based in New York.

ACG, Artemis acquire 2 Pacific Northwest senior housing communities

A venture between American Capital Group, Artemis Real Estate Partners and MorningStar Senior Living acquired two independent senior living communities in Kirkland, Washington and Hillsboro, Oregon. The properties will be managed as MorningStar Senior Living of Kirkland and MorningStar Senior Living of Hillsboro, respectively.

Standard Communities acquires Massachusetts affordable senior apartments

Standard Communities completed the acquisition of Westwood Glen Apartments, a 156-unit affordable senior apartment community in Westwood, Massachusetts. The acquisition was part of a two-property, $65 million deal.

Imagine Senior Living assumes operations of Texas community

New operator, Imagine Senior Living, assumed operations of The Gardens of Castle Hills, an assisted living and memory care community in San Antonio, Texas. The community was formerly known as Ventura Hills.

Financings

Douglaston Development closes on $60M financing package

Douglaston Development, a real estate development and services firm with offices in New York City and Douglaston, New York, closed on a $59.9 million financing package to begin the first phase of a mixed-use development in the Bronx which will include 188 affordable senior apartments, Real Estate Weekly reports.

The development will be built on land leased by Douglaston from the New York Botanical Garden. The financing includes $32.1 million in tax-exempt bond financing provided by New York State Homes and Community Renewal, a $12.8 million subsidy from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, a $6.8 million deferred development fee and $1.6 million in accrued interest from subsidy programs. Construction is expected to begin in the spring.

Cushman & Wakefield completes 2 financing transactions

Cushman & Wakefield National Senior Housing Capital Markets Vice Chairman Richard Swartz, Executive Managing Director Jay Wagner, Managing Director Aaron Rosenzweig, Senior Director Jim Dooley and Associate Bailey Nygard completed the following transactions:

• The team was the exclusive advisor to a joint venture of Harrison Street Real Estate Capital and LCB Senior Living to secure acquisition financing for a portfolio of three senior housing assets totaling 263 assisted living and memory care units in Cherry Hill, Voorhees and Stafford Township, New Jersey. Cushman & Wakefield arranged the non-recourse financing with Synovus Bank with earmarked capex funds and earn-out potential for additional proceeds.
• The team served as exclusive advisor to Harrison Street and Stellar Senior Living in arranging acquisition financing for Heritage Sun City, a 211-unit independent and assisted living community located in the Sun City, Arizona. The non-recourse financing was provided by a national bank that will also provide acquisition financing to the same borrower for another Arizona-based senior housing community, set to close in early 2021.

Ratings Outlooks

Fitch affirms bond outlooks for Maryland, Texas CCRCs

Fitch Ratings affirmed the “BBB+” rating on the following Maryland Health and Higher Educational Facilities Authority bonds issued on behalf of Broadmead:

• $60 million in Series 2018A revenue bonds
• $15 million in Series 2018B revenue bonds

The bonds are secured by a gross revenue pledge and a mortgage on the facility. Key rating drivers include an average 98.3% operating ratio and 21.3% net operating margin – adjusted (NOMA) over the past four audited years, which compare well to Fitch’s “BBB” category medians of 97.4% and 23%. Independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing occupancies at Broadmead have averaged 95%, 82%, and 87%, respectively, over the past four years, indicating good demand for services.

Fitch also affirmed the “BB+” rating on Series 2013, 2020A and taxable 2020B bonds issued by the New Hope Cultural Education Facilities Finance Corporation on behalf of Morningside Ministries. Key ratings drivers are weak profitability, stable demand and good liquidity. As of September 30, Morningside Ministries had $34 million in unrestricted cash and investments, translating to 358 days cash on hand (DCOH), 43.9% cash to debt and 6.4x cushion ratio, which is good for the current rating.

Miscellaneous

United Church Homes enters new senior housing venture

United Church Home and Mission DG, a privately-owned real estate development company specializing in multifamily and mixed-use projects, are embarking on a joint venture to fund pre-development activities for new affordable senior housing in Texas. United Church Homes will be an investment partner in several projects in southern Texas.

The post Transactions & Financings: LCS Assumes Operations of Rose Senior Living; United Church Homes’ New Development Venture appeared first on Senior Housing News.

Benchmark Senior Living and Milestone Retirement Communities announced a flurry of executive personnel changes Tuesday, resulting in C-suite changes for both companies.

Waltham, Massachusetts-based Benchmark has named Jerry Liang to the role of executive vice president and CFO and John Hartmayer to the role of executive vice president and COO. Liang’s hiring is effective immediately, while Hartmayer is slated to come aboard on March 8.

Benchmark also promoted Chief Marketing Officer Heather Frahm to serve in the concurrent role of executive vice president.

As COO, Hartmayer will manage community operations, including resident care, programming, culinary and legal matters. He previously worked as senior vice president of operations for Louisville, Kentucky-based Atria Senior Living’s east division.

Liang most recently worked as senior vice president of investments and development at McLean-based Sunrise Senior Living. In his new position with Benchmark, he is tasked with overseeing development, asset management, capital structuring, investor relations, accounting, treasury and risk management.

Current Benchmark CFO Sarah Laffey is moving to a part-time consulting role with the company and will oversee investments for its continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs). Benchmark currently manages four CCRCs in its 63-property portfolio.

The personnel moves will aid Benchmark’s current growth and operations strategy, the company noted in a press release. The company recently acquired an ownership stake in the largest CCRC in Connecticut and assumed operations of the campus. Benchmark also recently touted the formation of a coronavirus advisory council made up of medical and public health experts.

“I am confident that our executive team and our dedicated community associates will not only help us continue to provide superior services to our residents, but also help us expand Benchmark’s presence in the region,” Benchmark Founder CEO and Chairman Tom Grape said in a press release on the hirings.

Benchmark didn’t immediately elaborate on the announcements when reached by Senior Housing News Tuesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Milestone Retirement also announced Tuesday it had promoted Caryl Ridgeway to the role of COO, and Rosalyn Watson to the role of chief clinical officer.

The Vancouver, Washington-based company announced the personnel moves on Tuesday. Milestone has more than 35 communities in 10 states across the United States.

As COO, Ridgeway is positioned to help the operator build its teams while growing occupancy and revenue. Specifically, she is tasked with working with ownership groups on new development projects and helping with the recruitment and training of associates at Milestone’s newly built communities.

Ridgeway first came aboard in 2018 as the organization’s vice president of operations. She has helped guide Milestone’s pandemic response since then, including through a visitation program called the Compassionate Care Visit Program under which residents and their families can share a social visit while wearing full personal protective equipment (PPE).

Outside of the senior living industry, she has also worked in accounting, small business bakery ownership, as an IT analyst, and as an emergency medical technician who served on the Red Cross Disaster Relief Team during the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

As chief clinical officer, Watson will work with the operator’s regional and community teams to support clinical operations and compliance. Her first priorities include creating a training platform for clinical leaders, implementing a plan to transition to new electronic health record systems and providing professional development opportunities for unlicensed caregivers.

She joined Milestone in 2016, and was most recently executive vice president of clinical and compliance. Before that, her titles have included chief wellness officer, owner, vice president of clinical resource and national director of resident care.

“We are honored to promote Caryl and Rosalyn into their new roles and welcome them as owners,” said Milestone CEO Paul Dendy in a press release. “Both of these outstanding women bring a passion for serving seniors, extensive industry knowledge, and a desire and energy to do an outstanding job.”

Milestone currently has several communities in various stages of development and construction, with opening dates scheduled for mid-2021 through 2023, according to a representative for the company.

The post Benchmark Appoints COO, CFO; Milestone Retirement Names COO appeared first on Senior Housing News.

Four years ago, Waltham, Massachusetts-based senior living provider Benchmark launched The Branches. The assisted living and memory care-focused brand targets the middle market, promising communities that offer a more affordable price point without sacrificing their attractiveness or approach to activities and socialization.

Founded in 1997, Benchmark brings in about $500 million in annual revenue and operates a portfolio of 63 senior living communities in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont providing independent living, assisted living, memory care, skilled nursing and respite care. The communities emphasize a physically and socially active lifestyle.

The post Inside Benchmark’s Branches Middle Market Strategy appeared first on Senior Housing News.

In the Pipeline is brought to you by the Senior Housing News Architecture & Design Awards, an annual competition that recognizes cutting-edge design, excellence, and innovation in senior living. Submissions are currently open.

In the Pipeline: Planned

Atria, Welltower Among Project Partners for $300M Redevelopment in New Jersey

Atria Senior Living, Welltower (NYSE: WELL), multifamily developer AvalonBay Communities and Pulte Homes are collaborating on a project to convert a train station in Junction, New Jersey, into a mixed-use development with senior living.

The post In the Pipeline: Atria, Welltower Join $300M Mixed-Use Project in New Jersey; Benchmark Renovating Connecticut CCRC appeared first on Senior Housing News.

Movers & Shakers is brought to you by the Senior Housing News Job Board. Browse and apply to management and executive senior living jobs and positions from leading professional firms serving the industry. Employers can post single jobs, purchase job packages or our premium subscription that includes unlimited job posts and editorial coverage for one year. Visit SHN Jobs today.

Saint Therese Heading in New Direction with CEO

Minnesota-based Saint Therese is set to welcome Craig W. Abbott as president and chief executive officer next month.

Abbott will succeed Barb Rode who is retiring after over two decades with the organization. Saint Therese offers a range of senior living options from independent living to skilled nursing.

Abbot’s career in senior living started in 1993 with Volunteers of America National Services. He’s also held operational leadership roles with other non-profit organizations including The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society and Minnesota Masonic Homes. Most recently, Abbott served as Executive Vice President of Health Dimensions Group.

Over his 17 year career with Health Dimensions Group Abbot has served in an array of executive leadership roles.

As a licensed Nursing Home Administrator in the state of Minnesota, Abbott was a previous recipient of the Kal Michaels Administrator of the Year Award, he has served on the Board of Directors for Leading Age Minnesota, has led multiple organizations that have received “Great Places to Work” designation.

He holds a bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and Hospital/Healthcare Administration from Moorhead State University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Concordia College. In addition, he holds an MBA Certification in Healthcare, 2 Business and Quality Management from the University of St. Thomas, Center for Medical Affairs in Minneapolis.

Nonprofit in D.C. Area Adds Finance Leader

Rockville, Maryland-based Ingleside older adult service provider recently welcomed Jamie Spencer as its new chief financial officer after previously serving in an interim capacity.

Spencer graduated from Northern Arizona University with a bachelor’s degree in finance and received a master’s degree in business administration from Northeastern University. He is also a certified public accountant, licensed in Pennsylvania.

St. Louis Health Provider Adds Chief Med Officer

St. Louis, Missouri-based EmpowerMe Wellness, an integrated health provider serving more than 450 senior living communities, hired Dr. Jody Mitchell, MD. as chief medical officer.

Mitchell will oversee and manage clinical practices, focus on staff development for field clinicians, and use current research and practices to provide better outcomes for residents of senior living communities nationwide.

Mitchell has been with Owensboro Health in Owensboro, Kentucky, since 2012, most recently as Medical Director of Outpatient Services and Medical Director of Athletic Training Services. He has also served as Owensboro Health’s Medical Director of Healthpark, Kentucky’s only facility certified by the national Medical Fitness Association.

New Director for Massachusetts Community

Benchmark Senior Living at Haverhill Crossings in Haverhill, Massachusetts brought on Nick Barash as the new executive director of the assisted living and memory care community.

Barash comes to Benchmark from Atria Merrimack Place in Newburyport where he was the executive director. Previously, he was with Landmark Senior Living communities in Beverly. Barash graduated from James Madison University with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology.

New Jersey Life Plan Community Adds HR Lead

Laurel Circle, a life plan community in Bridgewater, New Jersey, recently named Doreen Anthony as director of human resources. Anthony will be responsible for developing and executing strategies for attracting and retaining an engaged workforce.

Anthony comes to Laurel Circle with over 30 years of experience in the HR field. Previously, she served as the Director of Human Resources for Erickson Living and C3i, Inc.

Anthony has served on the Board of Directors for The Employers Association of New Jersey since 2013. She graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Human Resources Management from Thomas Edison State College.

ED Rejoins Kansas Senior Living Community

Lifespace Communities added Rob Salierno as executive director of Claridge Court in Prairie Village, Kansas after he previously served as ED of Claridge Court from 2011 to 2016. Salierno began his career at Claridge Court at 17 years-old as a dining room server, then as lead server, dining room manager, and food and beverage manager. He earned his administrator’s license and served in that capacity at another Lifespace community before returning to Claridge Court as executive director.

Salierno received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and his Executive Master of Business Administration in Management from Rockhurst University.

Washington Life Plan Community Welcomes New Leaders

Senior living provider Penrose Harbor welcomed Angela McCloskey as director of nursing and Heather Sydnor as assisted living nurse manager to the Heron’s Key Life Plan community in Gig Harbor, Washington. In this role, McCloskey will be planning, organizing, developing and directing the nursing care program. As assisted living nurse manager, Sydnor is responsible for the day-to-day delivery of health care services to residents.

McCloskey brings 15 years of healthcare experience. She has a background in long-term care, post-acute care and rehabilitation. McCloskey graduated with an associate degree in nursing from Excelsior College and obtained her practical nursing license from Bates Technical College.

Sydnor has been working in healthcare since 2003. She has a background in patient care, memory care and resident services. She also earned her Certificate in Practical Nursing from the Center for Training and Development in addition to LPN and BLS certifications.

The post Movers & Shakers: Saint Therese Hires CEO; EmpowerMe Wellness Adds Chief Medical Officer appeared first on Senior Housing News.

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As labor markets face turmoil in the wake of the Great Resignation and other pandemic-related shocks, new worker expectations are causing memory care operators to change their understanding of what matters to employees.

“The workforce is changing just like our customers are changing, so we have to stay up-to-date on what is current,” AlerisLife (Nasdaq: ALR) National Director of Memory Care AJ Cipperly said at Senior Housing News’ recent BRAIN conference in Chicago.

For Cipperly, benefits such as flexible schedules aren’t going away soon.

“We’re seeing a shift … it’s not as much about work/life balance as it is about how work fits into my life,” she said.

Newton, Massachusetts-based AlerisLife recognizes the value in having an in-community memory care leader for the team to turn to, according to Cipperly, a sentiment echoed by Benchmark Senior Living Corporate Director of Memory Care Michelle Tristani.

For Tristani, frontline associates at Waltham, Massachusetts-based Benchmark need a manager in place who cares about the lives of the staff and wants to help them through the difficult task of caring for the most vulnerable of resident populations.

“Having that memory care specialist in the community, on the floor, coaching in the moment, supporting the front-line, in the mix with the front-line and assisting with residents — that’s going to really speak to the success of the neighborhood,” Tristani said at SHN’s BRAIN conference.

Both AlerisLife and Benchmark have rolled out plans to better train, better recognize, and better understand the needs of the current workforce to staff the present and to plan for the future of the industry.

For senior living operators, the competition for workers from mainstream retailers is causing a drive to improve benefits, pay and culture for new workers.

“There are so many jobs out there, we’re not only competing with senior living… we’re competing with Target,” said Tristani.

It starts with making the team feel essential.

Competency and compensation

AlerisLife, which operates communities, is focusing first on shoring up operational excellence by honoring and rewarding tenured staffers as much as possible before moving on to innovative solutions, according to Cipperly. 

“It’s kind of like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs … if we’re not providing valuable, timely merit increases, if we’re not [celebrating] and honoring years of consistent service, people aren’t going to stay because those basic needs aren’t met,” Cipperly said. “So you can roll out all of these sexy, innovative things that just won’t matter at the end of the day.”

Benchmark aims to do something similar with a career ladder program, according to Tristani. The ladder is set up to celebrate employee success at specific intervals that will create a framework for various levels of certification training and skill competency. 

“It’s one thing to have dementia knowledge and awareness; it’s another to be competent,” she said.

And, while recognizing the tremendous difficulties and challenges in the assisted living space, Cipperly stated clearly that working in memory care is a different level.

“In assisted living, we are helping our residents with certain parts of their day. In memory care, we’re helping residents throughout their entire day,” she said. “Because of that, it requires an additional skillset … therefore it should be reflected in wage and title.”

Cipperly and AlerisLife are working to create a new job description for those working in memory care that will come with additional training, competencies and certifications, and along with that, increased compensation.

“Working in memory care should be an honor. It would be considered this elite thing … it should be considered a promotion,” Cipperly said.

Getting the most out of agency labor, universal workers

Using temporary agency-staffed labor is one of the most painful strains felt by senior living operators in the pandemic landscape. While many, like AlerisLife and Benchmark, have made great strides in phasing out temporary workers, agency labor is still a fact of life.

But, getting the most out of each agency-placed worker can lead to long-term benefits, according to Cipperly.

“We all agree that using agencies is expensive, it’s not something that we want to do,” Cipperly said. Her aim now is to ensure that each agency worker is getting the most out of their time with AlerisLife.

“We know that a lot of the time, using agency staff doesn’t produce good outcomes. The reason for that isn’t because the agency is bad or the team member is bad,” she said. “It’s truly because there are so many different faces. They don’t know the residents as deeply as our team members and they’re not family with our process or our culture.”

AlerisLife is combating this knowledge gap by creating reference cards with details about each resident including their respective idiosyncrasies and care plans.

Another solution Cipperly noted is to pull a worker from an assisted living shift to a memory care shift and then fill the assisted living slot with an agency-placed worker. While an AL staffer won’t know the residents either, “at least they’re familiar with our culture or processes or systems,” said Cipperly.

Benchmark believes there are other ways to get the most out of agency labor. For example, Tristani suggests keeping an eye out for agency-placed workers who are consistent and able to wear multiple hats.

“It’s up to us to work with that agency to see if [we ought to] buy them out of their non-compete and if we can get them to join our team,” said Tristani. “We’ve had several associates say ‘Hey, I like the benefits here and I’d like to join full-time.”

Connecting tenured staff, new hires, residents

By creating a thriving culture at the community level, and making prospective hires more knowledgeable about the benefits of working in senior living, both Cipperly and Tristani hope to not only get more workers through their first 90 days but to retain them for years to come.

“The knowledge gap is huge,” said Cipperly. “Closing that gap is going to not only help us keep people, but also help people to choose this industry.”

AlerisLife partners with nursing schools and CNA programs to develop a recruiting pipeline of sorts, but recruiting – and training – needs to start earlier in education, according to Cipperly.

“We’ve got to get into middle schools and elementary schools to expose and educate kids about the benefits and opportunities of working with this population and how they can benefit from it,” she said.

Benchmark’s Connect First training program prioritizes human connection in the communities so that caregivers respond in the best way possible.

Connecting with the most vulnerable of patients is one great draw to the memory care sector, according to Tristani. But with the outbreak of Covid-19 and the years-long mask mandate, residents and staff aren’t connecting the way they used to.

Tristani – making it inarguably clear that she supports the medical need for masking – opined for a future wherein residents and staff can share facial expressions again.

Her hopes are backed up by research. Researchers at the University of North Carolina studied this effect of non-verbal communication by comparing how patients felt when their surgeons wore a see-through plastic mask compared with when their surgeon’s face was covered.

The researchers found that surgeons who wore clear masks were considered better communicators, more trustworthy and more empathetic. In memory care, the non-verbal aspects of a smile may carry even more weight.

“Let’s face it, [as much as 90%] of all communication is nonverbal,” said Tristani. “And my hope for the next year or so is that we’re not going to have to pull that mask down to provide whole-face communication and as a result, we’re not going to see that more rapid progression of cognitive decline.”

The post Elite and Essential: How Benchmark, AlerisLife Are Building Memory Care Workforces Amid a Labor Crisis appeared first on Senior Housing News.

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Movers & Shakers is brought to you by the Senior Housing News Job Board. Browse and apply to management and executive senior living jobs and positions from leading professional firms serving the industry. Employers can post single jobs, purchase job packages or our premium subscription that includes unlimited job posts and editorial coverage for one year. Visit SHN Jobs today.

LCS hires regional marketing and sales specialist

Micah Terry was recently hired as regional marketing and sales specialist for Life Care Services (LSC.

In his new role, he oversees marketing and sales teams of three communities operated by LCS that were recently acquired last year.

Sienna Living adds to leadership team

Sienna Living recently named Teresa Fritsch as executive vice president and chief corporate officer, joining from Chartwell Retirement Residences.

The Canadian-based senior living provider also added to its board of directors in the second quarter. After 12 years, Dino Chiesa stepped down having previously served as interim president and CEO between a seven-month period of 2012 and 2013.

Sienna Independent Director Shelly Jamieson was appointed as board chairperson effective immediately.

Senior Lifestyle Corporation hires vice president

National senior housing management and care provider Senior Lifestyle Corp. announced Jennifer Kleckner was recently named senior vice president of asset management.

Kleckner will oversee the company’s asset management team, as well as the procurement, capital and plant operations teams.

Senior Lifestyle Corp. operates 130 communities across 25 states.

Benchmark Senior Living promotes HR leader

New England’s largest senior living provider announced Kris Martel was recently promoted to Chief Human Resources Officer.

Martel will focus on strategic investments in recruitment and retention along with culture programming and diversity and inclusion initiatives.

She joined Benchmark as vice president of human resources in October 2021 and helped make the largest investment in wages in the company’s history and established minimum wage standards for frontline associates.

Benchmark oversees 64 independent living, assisted living, memory care and continuing care retirement communities (CCRC) in the greater New England area.

Pegasus Senior Living community names director

Sun CIty West Assisted Living in Sun City West, Arizona recently named Kim Gaunt as executive director to lead the community.

As a licensed practical nurse for over four decades, Gaunt has held various roles across the health care continuum from critical care to oncology and emergent care. She has also held management roles as supervisor, manager and wellness department director.

She shifted to working with older adults 12 years ago and said she found her passion for senior living, a news release from the community said.

Cushman & Wakefield hires Seattle team

Global real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield recently announced hiring a seven-person team to expand the company’s valuation and advisory living sector.

The team will be led by Brian O’Connor as executive director who brings 36 years of real estate experience to the firm. He was also the principal author of the Seattle Metropolitan Area Apartment Market Report.

The team is based in Seattle, Washington specializing in multifamily and condominium market analysis. The team also conducts consulting work in Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho and Oregon.

Other team members joining O’Connor include:

-Soryun Fitzpatrick, Director

-Brian Mitchell, Associate Director

-Howard Ruthman, Associate Director 

-Scott Wilson, Associate Director

-Kellen O’Connor, Associate.

-Raphael Nunziata, Appraisal Coordinator

The post Movers & Shakers: Senior Lifestyle Corp. Adds Vice President Post; Benchmark Senior Living Promotes HR Chief appeared first on Senior Housing News.

With a planned project in the Washington, D.C. market, Benchmark Senior Living is forging ahead with among its first projects outside of New England.

But for Benchmark Founder, Chairman and CEO Tom Grape, that growth strategy is more than two decades in the making.

“This is Benchmark’s 25th year, and for all 25 I’ve been describing Benchmark as a Boston-to-Washington company, even though we’ve only been in the top half of that geography,” Benchmark Grape said during a discussion at the 2022 Senior Housing News BUILD conference. “We’re just now starting to fill out the lower part of that geography … so, to me, it doesn’t feel like a stretch or a change.”

For Benchmark, the expansion to the D.C.-area market of Alexandria, Virginia, is helping to propel the company to its next chapter as a company that extends the length of the “Amtrak corridor,” where he estimates a quarter of the U.S. population lives.

Beyond that, Grape has a vision to make senior living more “invisible,” meaning it is woven into the fabric of society. That is reflected in the company’s recent projects, including the one in Alexandria.

Regional aspirations

Being a regional operator has served Benchmark well over the years, and today the Waltham, Massachusetts-based operator has a portfolio of 64 communities. Given its success and scale, Grape has no plans to significantly change that strategy any time soon.

“If an attractive portfolio came along that had a property or two outside of that geography, we might consider that,” Grape said. “But we’re not interested in expanding beyond the Boston to Washington corridor.”

The cornerstone of Benchmark’s regional growth strategy is careful planning. That is partly exemplified by the fact that the operator spent years honing its growth strategy before heading south to D.C.

As planned, the project in Alexandria is a 10-story highrise with assisted living and memory care units. Amenities include a club room, bistro, suite for wine-tasting, penthouse-level cafe and rooftop deck.

Residents will also have access to a wellness center where staff will help arrange and facilitate health care services, such as physician visits; and Grape said the company is in discussions with local hospital systems on potential ways to collaborate.

Benchmark also recently opened a new community in Hanover, Massachusetts; and has another that is getting ready to break ground in New Hampshire.

For AMN by RoboToaster For AMN by RoboToaster

As a regional operator, there are plenty of places Benchmark won’t go. For instance, Grape said the company has rebuffed requests to take on new projects into the Southeastern U.S., and even overseas into markets in China and Australia.

When examining markets for expansion, Grape said the company looks for sites that have “proximity and visibility” for adult children, as well as ones that are easily accessed by future staff.

Like many operators in 2022, Benchmark has grappled with higher costs of development and construction and a tough lending environment. But unlike some others, the company is still forging ahead with its development growth strategy, particularly in high-barrier-to-entry markets where many people share the same socioeconomic backgrounds.

“We’re continuing to … keep our pipeline active, and see what else we can get going,” Grape said.

Benchmark has plenty of room to expand further in the corridor, with untapped potential in markets in New Jersey, Maryland and other states between its current Northeast presence and its new community in Northern Virginia.

Making senior living ‘invisible’

Benchmark’s strategy of keeping a tight regional presence aligns with the way Grape sees the senior population of tomorrow.

According to Grape, the baby boomers are looking more for a customizable senior living experience that is woven into the surrounding community as opposed to buildings that stand out as senior living.

“I think there is a movement to drop ‘senior’ [from senior living] and call it different things,” Grape said. “And I think that will undoubtedly continue.”

Baby boomers, he said, want all the choices in their senior years that they’ve had throughout their lives.

“They want mixed-use, they want low-rise rural,” Grape said. “They want to not just pay rent for assisted living, they’re going to want to finance it and to buy it, or they’re going to want to pay for it on credit.”

Wellness is a big trend to Grape and at Benchmark — and the company is defining that term “more broadly than just the nurse’s office,” Grape said. In fact, he added that he sees wellness as an “essential part of the premise of senior living.”

“We have wellness programs that are beyond physical health, but are into holistic health,” he said. “We think human connection is a central part of wellness, both human connection with staff and with their families.”

He also sees promise for the industry’s future in intergenerational concepts. Benchmark currently has an assisted living community with an included preschool component. The forthcoming community in Alexandria also is planned to have proximity to a local preschool in addition to all-ages multifamily units, a grocery store and a restaurant.

Grape also believes that communities on or collaborating with college campuses hold promise for the industry’s future as it matures in the years ahead.

In general, he believes the industry is in a place similar to the early auto industry; when customers started demanding more choices for cars.

“Now, different market segments of consumers are starting to express their desires for different kinds of products,” Grape said.

He noted that the customer of today can find many different kinds of places to live, from communities that cater to LGBTQ residents to those centered on different cultures and backgrounds. And as he looks ahead, he believes the industry will continue to cater to those unique preferences.

“We’re going to start to see a much greater fragmentation and segmentation coming, which I think is a great thing,” Grape said.

Middle-market a ‘tough challenge’

For years, the senior living industry has sought to address the needs of the millions of older adults that likely won’t be able to afford senior living in the future; a cohort referred to as the middle market. But there, Grape sees no easy solutions.

“To do true middle market … I don’t see how you do it without some kind of subsidies or tax credit program or something like that,” Grape said.

Grape estimates that for every dollar of revenue an assisted living community brings in, 70 cents is allocated for operating expenses with another 20 cents needed for debt service, leaving just 10 cents for cash flow and/or profit.

He added that even if he were to receive a new community at no cost, it would still be difficult to bring costs down to middle-market rates given all of the complexities of care and services.

“You don’t reach the middle market even with a free building,” Grape said. “Then, if you start to chip away too much in services, you’re no longer really providing the full description of assisted living.”

Benchmark is operating a small number of communities under the brand name The Branches with rates that are approximately 20% lower than the market. The company was able to achieve that through smaller square footages and other tweaks to operations.

Still, that is a “long way from the true middle-market,” Grape said.

“Middle-market is a tough challenge,” he added.

The post Benchmark CEO: Future of Senior Living Lies in ‘Invisible’ Communities, More Choices appeared first on Senior Housing News.

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Although big challenges and headwinds remain, the outlook for senior living staffing has taken a more positive turn in recent months — at least for senior living operators willing to be proactive and seize the opportunity at hand.

Recent survey data has shown that, although most senior living operators are experiencing staffing shortages in their operations, those shortages have gotten less severe over the course of the year.

Overall, the talent pool for employees, including first-time senior living staffers, is expanding as the industry once again competes with hospitality sector employees by offering stability and certainty, according to Aegis Living President Sandra Preyale.

“Our business is driven by people,” Preyale told Senior Housing News. “It’s our ongoing and greatest focus to have the right people in the right position on the right team, and there will continue to be a real opportunity to bring people in from other sectors if they embrace the purpose of our work and embody grit.”

Sinceri Vice President of Human Resources Michelle Shelton noted, “The labor market is definitely cooling in favor of employers, but it’s still challenging.”

“We’re starting to see a little bit better qualified applicants and a little bit better labor pool,” she added.

Aegis Living, Benchmark Senior Living, Ecumen, LCS and Sinceri are getting creative in solving staffing issues as operators balance a recent influx of applicants and increased effort on internal leadership development against wage compression and a competitive talent pool.

Operators get ‘smarter and flexible’

In the last year, senior living operations have become “more complex,” requiring employees to have, or be trained in, new soft skills and competencies compared to just four years ago, Preyale said. Those qualities — a mix of passion and resiliency –are why Preyale said senior living staff needed to embody “grit” to navigate the many headwinds facing the industry.

With employees moving through positions at a quicker rate than in the past, Preyale said operators have needed to become “smarter and flexible” to accommodate scheduling and,to balance the differing preferences of older employees versus their younger, Gen Z counterparts. At the company’s home office in Bellevue, Washington, Aegis Living is moving to a new schedule where employees will come to the office four days a week, with one day designated as work-from-home days. That new schedule kicked off this week after the Labor Day holiday.

Benchmark Senior Living Chief Human Resources Officer Kris Martel noted that in order to ease the pain on staffing, Benchmark hired six additional recruiters to hunt for candidates across the company’s 65 community portfolio. In the quarter after the recruiters were hired, Martel said net new hires across all markets increased 10%.

“These numbers are trending toward even greater increases in the coming weeks and months,” Martel told Senior Housing News.

Sinceri’s recruitment team was started last year, Shelton said, and has helped widen the flow of talent to the Vancouver, Washington-based senior living provider across its 77-community portfolio.

“We’re always looking at ways to be creative and leverage our recruitment team,” Shelton said.

Martel said that Benchmark intensified its communication and exit-interview process with past associates, particularly with nursing staff to let those qualified nurses know of additional shifts, part-time or per diem opportunities and wage increases. That led to a flood of past employees returning in some capacity across the company’s portfolio of communities, with Martel noting that in the last 12 months, 510 associates have returned to work for Benchmark.

Waltham, Massachusetts-based Benchmark Senior Living operates 65 senior living communities across seven states.

In the last six months, Shoreview, Minnesota-based operator Ecumen reported a greater influx of applicants, with more interest in senior living careers from colleges and universities helping to drive that interest through mentorship and apprenticeship programs, according to Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer Melanie Sullivan.

On the whole this year, Sullivan added that Ecumen had seen across its portfolio long-term staff make a “recommitment” to senior care coming out of the pandemic, as the organization in 2023 has focused on retention.

“We’ve seen a reduction in our open positions and we prioritize our people-first culture and we’ve improved our integration strategies,” Sullivan told SHN. “We’re trying to create a faster integration strategy to really focus on our purpose and the purpose of our work.”

That focus on integrating new staff is important given that senior living often comes with a steep learning curve that can cause someone to quit in their first 90 days. In the last 18 months, Sullivan said that wage compression has evolved into a greater challenge of employee retention.

LCS Vice President Director of Human Resources Donna Boetger said she feels “positive about staffing as a whole” as the Des Moines-based operator had seen improvement through focusing on recruitment and retention strategies.

“Overall, we’re seeing some improvements in applicant flow,” Boetger said. “Instead of the global candidate shortage we experienced over the last few years, there doesn’t seem to be that panic throughout the organization.”

Boetger added that the “current financial landscape” that is causing wage compression, could be keeping prospective frontline workers from applying, conceding that the industry was “not always able to compensate” those tough-to-fill positions on tight salaries. That’s led LCS to focus on internal career opportunities through career advancement via apprenticeships, Boetger said.

Another way operators are overcoming challenges is through internal talent development, Preyale said, and she compared the issue of having a well-staffed community to public transit by ensuring “each person is in the right seat on the bus.”

“That means taking a closer look at each person’s skill set and the specific needs of each of our teams and communities and aligning both,” Preyale said. “It’s our job to ensure this alignment is happening and the same for all positions, nursing to culinary, and more.”

For Bellevue, Washington-based Aegis Living, the company is in its fourth year of its Elevate program aimed at offering staff leadership and operational training to “high-potential team members,” Preyale added.

Filling positions to ‘get in front of burnout’

Operators also shared that certain positions were still challenging to fill, from frontline staff to care coordination, operators nationwide are struggling to find the right people to fill the gaps.

Aegis, Benchmark, LCS and Sinceri reported issues in hiring care staff –more specifically, hiring nursing and certified nursing assistants (CNA), while the need for nurses since the Covid-19 pandemic has “remained high” as health care organizations battle for the talent within the shallow nursing pool, Martel said.

“One thing we are doing is focusing on retention and continuing to find ways to address and get in front of burnout,” Preyale said.

Another tough area to staff is culinary services. Particularly hard to hire are frontline workers, including servers, multiple operators told SHN.

“We continue to see significant competition in the market for those roles and in some geographies, I also feel like we have experienced more candidates requesting remote work and in our field, that’s not an area we can accommodate,” Boetger said.

Preyale has taken a laser-focus on staffing by visiting communities each month and working an 8-hour shift in various community roles, including in the dining room, hosting activities or as a caregiver. C-suite executives at the company are doing this to “stay connected” with frontline employees, she said.

Aegis also in 2021 created Kalon Care, its own staffing agency, to reduce the use of agency staff and engage with nursing staff who want to work non-typical schedules. The in-house staffing agency alleviates the burden of Aegis team leaders needed to train and onboard agency staff.

Through Kalon Care, Aegis has added 40 people on staff and reduced its outside agency labor spend by 80% compared to the same time last year, she said. By outsourcing administrative work overseas, that’s helped reduce the burden on staff and reduce burnout, Preyale added.

Another way operators are succeeding in fighting labor challenges has been through heading upstream to find talent, specifically marketing senior living careers for young people. Sullivan said Ecumen was establishing career pathways for clinical teams and frontline team members to outline “a sustainable career” journey for new employees. That pairs well with Ecumen hosting job fairs targeting high school-age students to highlight senior living within the broader health care landscape.

Ecumen also has a partnership with the Minnesota Department of Health to foster relationships with universities in the region, harkening back to Sullivan’s past career as a professor at the University of Minnesota prior to jumping into health care.

“A lot of us are trying to use our networks to promote and enhance our relationships with those younger populations so that we can encourage them to try [senior living] out,” Sullivan added. “It’s a beautiful way to think about how we honor and really respect older adults so that’s the narrative we’re working to change.”

Situation still ‘precarious,’ but improving

Even with wage compression still a concern and the competition for talent greater than ever, operators say the labor environment in senior living is improving, markedly so since the dark days of 2020.

Preyale said she expects pressure around wages to continue, with an additional focus on talent development needed.

“We need to continue focusing on building the talent we need through 2024, especially with the most recent news on the Covid-19 variant,” Preyale said, referencing the newly circulating Covid-19 variant dubbed BA.2.86. .

The senior living industry has for years touted immigration as a solution for senior living staffing shortages, with the idea that allowing more people into the country would in turn increase the number of available workers. But Boetger said that the senior living industry had a “lack of viable solutions” to push immigration reform that would bring eligible workers to fill frontline staff.

“We need solutions around more accessible and streamlined paths for highly skilled workers from other countries as well as the introduction of a realistic and timely immigration pathway for entry-level workers,” Boetger said.

Shelton said she anticipates the labor outlook for senior living continuing to “soften and cool into next year” even as base wages increase.

“But I do think that we’re in kind of a precarious situation,” Shelton added, based on the employment exodus in the wake of employee burnout from the pandemic that led to the talent pool shrinking, albeit temporarily.

In order to bring more people into the industry, Sullivan said it was “incumbent upon all of us as leaders” to advocate for the industry and bring awareness to the careers possible in senior living.

“I’m really optimistic because I believe that we are gradually and incrementally making changes in our sector that are going to have a positive influence for years to come,” Sullivan said.

The post Staffing Turns a Corner: Inside Recent Workforce Wins of Aegis, Benchmark, Ecumen, LCS, Sinceri appeared first on Senior Housing News.

The nature of senior living management companies is inherently evolving as providers look to make regional inroads and grow in a challenging economic climate.

Management companies have changed structurally over the last two decades, going from predominantly triple-net leases to management agreements that more closely align operators and owners behind the same goals. Rather than fragmenting, smaller operating companies have grown and consolidation is now a viable way to scale growth.

“We didn’t have some of these things that are an absolute necessity today,” Merrill Gardens CEO Tana Gall said during a panel at the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) Fall Conference in Chicago. “The biggest evolution is not just how we set up our contracts, but actually how we do our jobs and technology has played a huge role in that.” 

That’s a good fit for delivering care services to seniors over time, and paired with greater alignment, has been a benefit to the industry, according to Ventas EVP of Senior Housing and Chief Investment Officer Justin Hutchens, who served as moderator of the panel.

‘Several iterations of evolution’

Senior living providers have spent the last three years building back losses from the Covid-19 pandemic, which fueled rapid change due to necessity as all aspects of the business changed. By having multiple third-party management contracts, larger operators can grow steadily.

Discovery Senior Living CEO Richard Hutchinson said the fast-growing company has more third-party management contracts than ever before, reaching 53% across its portfolio as third-party agreements.

“I think it’s important to distinguish during that evolutionary time and how we’ve morphed into this hybrid model of some third-party, some ownership and everything in between,” Hutchinson said. “For the first time in a long time, it’s almost like our economics wasn’t the construct in which we’re operating.”

Going forward, operators need to have a transparent capital relationship and better understand the property ownership side of the business, Hutchinson said during a panel on Tuesday at NIC.

“It makes us better operators to understand the ownership side,” Hutchinson added. “It’s just understanding the stresses of the ownership groups that we partner with.” 

Discovery Senior Living through its family of management companies operates 300 senior living communities across 40 states, and is based in Bonita Springs, Florida. The company earlier this year welcomed Integral Senior Living (ISL) into its umbrella, effectively creating the fifth-largest operator in the country in the process.

Technology has helped play a “huge role” in the evolution of management companies, even some from outside of the senior living space, Gall said. When she started, she recalled using oversized index cards to take notes as her customer relationship management (CRM) tool, and even a time before the organization didn’t have a human resources department.

Another way the structure of management has changed is through the infusion of data to deliver actionable insights for real estate owners and capital partners, as exhibited by Ventas launching its Operational Insights platform to deliver data to help operators succeed Hutchens said.

“We take data and we give it back and that’s the approach,” Hutchens said. “The other approach is investing in communities.”

But one thing that hasn’t changed, Gall said, was the mission operators are on in caring for older adults with staff rosters full of mission-driven employees.

Seattle-based Merrill Gardens operates 67 communities in 17 states, 66 of which are operating on Merrill Gardens’ proprietary tech platform, Gall said. 

Another way operators have evolved over time is through developing new joint-venture management structures with institutional partners, as demonstrated by the buildout and growth of Benchmark Senior Living. Boston-based Benchmark Senior living operates 64 communities across the northeast, having crafted a dance card of over a dozen institutional real estate investors, CEO Tom Grape said.  

Benchmark’s structure includes minority ownership for its partners, eventually bringing in new capital partners that continue to own and operate the communities, according to Grape.

“We’ve certainly been capitalizing each of those where we’ve been able to bring in a successor partner and continue to give the operator continued ownership after the new capitalization,” Grape said during the panel.

But in order to grow efficiently, operators must consider what the “right size” is for their respective organization, Grape said.

“All I know is that having fewer communities, it’s hard to support any kind of infrastructure,” Grape said. “For us, it’s probably a little bit bigger than what we are now. But we’re not interested in growing a lot bigger.” 

Relationships key to management success

Senior living operators have had to get creative when it comes to building capital and management agreements since the pandemic. To limit situations that don’t benefit an operator or capital partner, operators have relied on past relationships and seek mission alignment in a potential management partner.

“We’re in constant communication,” Gall said. “I think the key to the positive relationship part is just the ongoing dialogue and communication.”

One mechanism that helped grease the wheel of the management and owner relationship for Discovery is its asset management team, with well-placed staff within its smaller management subsidiaries like LakeHouse Senior Living, launched earlier this year to oversee a swath of Midwest properties, Hutchinson said.

“It’s all your leaders out there just deciding who you want to be as an operating company, and then just make sure you’re partnering with people who fit that profile,” Hutchinson said.

But it goes further than just building a relationship, Grape said, adding, “You have to dig deeper and make sure that you know about the company. And its broader goals and implications and investment strategy, not just for the relationship.”

That was evidenced by Benchmark’s joint-venture partners standing by the company during the pandemic, with some directly supporting Benchmark’s operations during the pandemic in securing resources like masks.

“You find out what people are really like when the sh-t hits the fan,” Grape said. “And we were pleased to find out that our investor partners were terrifically supportive.”

Like the launch of LakeHouse for Discovery, Merrill Gardens has seen success within the launch of its sub brands Truewood by Merrill, its middle market product launched in 2021. During the panel, Gall said the effort has been “hard” due to changing its operating model and integrating existing residents into the new model.

“We looked at that as an opportunity at a low basis to go in and be able to hold rents down and provide services to a much broader audience,” Gall said.

Discovery’s Hutchinson said he believes there is a “consolidation timeframe” approaching for operators and owners, and that operators need to take a moment of introspection to determine which platforms to grow scale with, while considering how industries outside of senior living operate.

“It’s comforting to know every other industry out there that is operationally intensive has already done this with help and so there’s a playbook,” Hutchinson said.

The post How Discovery, Merrill Gardens, Benchmark Have Evolved Operations to Fuel Growth appeared first on Senior Housing News.

The slow rate of new construction starts and looming demand from the baby boomers have led to “the most favorable supply demand fundamentals the industry has ever experienced,” according to the top leader of Ventas (NYSE: VTR).

Thanks to those conditions, Ventas CEO Debra Cafaro laid out that she sees “a compelling backdrop for multi-year growth ahead” for the company’s senior housing holdings. Like other leaders in the industry, Cafaro also said the company is also gearing up to capitalize on a wave of debt maturities among operators in the coming years.

At the same time, Ventas has made progress turning around a challenged segment of its senior housing operating portfolio (SHOP) months after the Chicago-based REIT brought in three other operators to manage it.

“Communities tend to have meaningful runway for occupancy and NOI growth in the hands of well-capitalized, experienced and knowledgeable owners like Ventas,” Cafaro said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call with investors and analysts Friday.

Ventas reported funds from operations (FFO) of $0.75 per share in the third quarter. The company’s total revenue for the quarter was more than $1.14 billion.

The Chicago-based REIT has 587 properties in its SHOP segment, with a triple-net portfolio of 334 properties.

Analysts highlighted the company’s solid senior housing momentum during the quarter.

“FFO guidance was bumped (in line) with SHOP & other segments maintained,” wrote BMO Capital Markets analysts John Kim and Juan Sanabria. “Overall we see results as solid and helping to start to rebuild credibility”

Stifel Managing Director Stephen Manaker wrote in a Nov. 2 investor note: “SHOP remains the main earnings driver (36% of NOI), and the recovery is continuing as we expected. However, we believe expectations are ahead of likely results in the near-term due to a slowing pace of occupancy gain.”

Ventas’ share value registered at $44.08 on Friday afternoon after financial markets closed, representing a less than 1% gain on the day.

Leaning on operator relationships

Ventas’ SHOP segment led the quarter in terms of net operating income (NOI) growth, with the same-store SHOP segment growing 18% over the same quarter in 2022.

Occupancy for the SHOP segment hit 81.8% in the quarter, representing a gain of 20 basis points versus the same period in 2022. Average monthly revenue per occupied room (RevPOR) grew 7.9% in the third quarter of this year to land at $ 4,706.

As in previous quarters, Ventas management praised the efforts of its operating partners as making a difference in the quarter.

In the second quarter of the year, the company’s executives reported a “disappointing” quarter for a portion of its Holiday by Atria SHOP segment, prompting the company to assign three new operators to the 24-property segment.

That effort paid off in the third quarter to the tune of a 130-basis-point occupancy gain for the segment. Ventas Chief Investment Officer Justin Hutchens credited those gains in part to the company’s support, which includes its “operational insights” platform.

“Our expert approach of moving communities to new operators ensures that lead banks are transferred immediately, websites are integrated [and] management, including the CEOs, have access to the communities well ahead of the transition date to enable quick execution,” Hutchens said during the call.

On the whole, the 75-community SHOP segment managed by Atria Senior Living saw good progress in the quarter and added 190 basis points of occupancy between July and September, representing the fastest census growth over a two-month period in more than two years for any of the company’s operating partners.

Move-ins for the segment in the quarter were 120% of 2019 levels, he added. Total SHOP revenue for Ventas in 3Q23 was $7.5 million, a 1.8% increase quarter over quarter and a 7.6% increase year over year.

“We continue to see good performance in this more streamlined portfolio, which allows for enhanced focus and with a renewed sense of urgency to execute,” Hutchens said.

Looking ahead for future investments, Ventas announced plans to look at combining smaller opportunities and expanding its current relationships.

During the quarter, Ventas acquired two communities totaling 181 units in Connecticut and Massachusetts for $79.5 million. The acquisition also linked Ventas with Boston-based Benchmark Senior Living, “an exciting new relationship for us,” Hutchens said.

“We see most of what’s on the market … and we are very interested in expanding in senior housing,” he said.

Cafaro noted there are growing investment opportunities within the space and that Ventas is “well positioned” to capitalize on the opportunities available due to debt service maturities, and the trend is expected to continue throughout 2025.

“There’s a huge pool of quality senior living communities with attractive return profiles that are coming to market as a result of debt maturities and higher debt service costs,” she said.

Growing opportunities

On the whole, the senior living industry is plagued by an M&A market that has largely frozen as higher interest rates have taken hold. But Hutchens noted “a number of opportunities that are really building, and particularly in recent months and weeks.”

“That includes the number of institutional sellers that are dealing with debt maturities or fund maturities, and we’re starting to see the returns become more interesting to us,” he said.

Hutchens added: “We are looking at smaller opportunities to really continue to expand our existing relationships and add new relationships, and use our variety of different sources of capital to do that.”

The company also is improving its existing senior living communities, with about 170 projects across its property holdings – “mostly mid market focused, and also unit upgrades,” Hutchens said.

Moving forward, Cafaro said the plan for Ventas is to “lean in” to the senior housing side of the business given the company’s “significant expertise” and “double digit internal rate of return.”

“We’re very interested in that area first and foremost,” she said.

The post Ventas CEO: We’re Seeing ‘Most Favorable’ Senior Living Supply-Demand Dynamics Ever appeared first on Senior Housing News.

Last year, HumanGood CEO John Cochrane noted how the industry was shifting from a period of crisis to one of stability. This year, his message for senior living operators is even clearer: “Buckle up and start your engines.”

“The new year could bring some of the biggest opportunities in our lifetime,” he said. “We are at an intersection of a seismic and global demographic shift … and we will have tools, resources, and opportunities in front of us like nothing we have ever seen.”

At the start of a new year, Cochrane is not the only industry leader gearing up to capture big opportunities in 2024. To learn more about how senior living executives are feeling heading into the new year, Senior Housing News connected with a variety of industry leaders. What follows is the second part of a two-part series sharing those responses:

Tom Grape, CEO, Benchmark Senior Living

Benchmark had a very strong year in 2023. We finished at 90% occupancy with continued growth expected. Our margin improved, though not yet to pre-pandemic levels, and we realized strong YOY NOI growth. We achieved material growth in net hires, allowing us to bring agency spend to pre-pandemic levels. Our ongoing quality improvement initiatives resulted in increased satisfaction/engagement scores for Residents/Families and confirmed that Benchmark employees believe we are a top place to work. We were able to refinance or extend all of the loans which were due in 2023, and we closed on the sale of two communities with an exciting new capital relationship for us with Ventas.

We completed a major renovation at one of our flagship communities, and have two other major renovations underway at other premier communities. The One Company Fund, a nonprofit established by Benchmark in 2018 to help associates in times of crisis, gave out the most grants ever.

For 2024, we expect to continue to build on the progress in occupancy, margin and NOI growth. We plan to continue to add net new hires as the labor market continues to slowly soften. Our quality improvement initiatives will continue to grow. 2024 will be a major year for technology initiatives for us as we implement electronic medical records, and a human resources information system to improve quality and efficiency. We will continue our renovation program by beginning a rolling refresh program across a large portion of our portfolio. Starting this year and running through 2025, this project will improve our resident experience and keep our buildings as leaders in their local markets.

Speaking more generally, the dearth of new supply over these last couple of years will continue through 2024 given the state of the capital markets. This will help all operators grow occupancy. We expect to see more sorting out of the strong vs weak operators and to see more distressed assets coming our way from either lenders or equity investors frustrated with poor operator performance.

The prospect of the Fed holding and perhaps cutting interest rates is also good news and may allow select development to resume into 2025. In total, I expect 2024 to be a pivoting year as we get closer to pre-pandemic performance and can turn our attention more fully to offering the next generation of products/services our new customers are demanding and getting capital providers excited again about deeper investments in our industry.

David Eskenazy, CEO, Cogir USA

Prior to the the pandemic, our industry was experiencing massive supply growth fueled by cheap money and investors in many cases pivoting into senior housing as a ’natural expansion’ of their real estate roadmap. Supply was outstripping absorption for many straight quarters but the silver tsunami would solve all of that.

Then along came a pandemic to sober up even to most experienced senior housing investors, and those that just entered the industry were wondering what how they got there. This sure didn’t feel like a real estate investment suddenly.

Inflation, regulation, occupancy stagnation, workforce contraction, outside labor and supply chain problems become our challenges to overcome, which seemingly took forever as the 2-3 quarters turned into 2-3 years.

Ah but finally it all seemed like it was coming to an end only to be met by hyper-inflated interest rates now which have all but brought investors to their knees.

This is the backdrop for our entry point into 2024.

While crippling perhaps for investors, this now brings new development and new upcoming supply into the ‘great pause’ of the next 2-3 years. For many reasons, this is just what doctor ordered for the industry occupancy to catch up. Investments will be measured and pricing shrewd, but for those that are committed to the future, great acquisition opportunities will be available. As they say, one investor’s loss is another investor’s opportunity. This shall be true in 2024.

For our company, our focus will be on swiftly leasing up our new openings, further stabilizing our existing communities, firming up our margins, and bring on more business as many investors are changing operators in the midst of pressured operating results or forced sales.

We will look to focus on top line revenue through absorption and rate management, as well as capturing care revenue. Long ago we identified the discipline it takes to capture care, charge appropriately and focus on staffing efficiency in the care department. Our approach is to isolate the care department revenue and expenses and run the department as a profit center. With labor costs and shortages continuing to be out of balance, this continues to be an emphasis in 2024.

Occupancy success is about ins and outs. Outs are often about satisfaction. During the pandemic, to be honest, it was difficult to provide the jovial, social atmosphere that our companies use to try to differentiate each other. After all, it was hard to bring smiles to faces that we couldn’t even see. How could smiles be infectious when they were either hidden behind masks or behind doors? But it 2024 we can certainly bring back the loving and uplifting atmosphere that brings happiness and joy to our residents and families. This rebirth will be a refreshing foundation for success this year.

Our outlook is still rosy, albeit through roads that were not on the map only a short time ago.

Alan Butler, CEO, Erickson Senior Living

In the past 12 months, we have had the privilege of welcoming more than 4,000 seniors to our network of vibrant senior living communities across the country. Over the next 12 months, we look forward to bringing this enviable lifestyle to even more seniors. In early 2024, we will celebrate the opening of a brand-new community, Woodleigh Chase, in Northern Virginia. Development is underway on Emerson Lakes, a new community in Sarasota, Fla., and The Grandview, Erickson Senior Living’s first vertical living community, in Bethesda, Md.

There’s no doubt that the environment for development and construction is challenging now. However, we remain committed to the long-term success of this industry because we know that we are solving a great need, as the population we serve will continue to grow dramatically over the next decade.

Even in the face of these difficult market conditions, we plan to invest billions of dollars to meet this demand, maintaining our very selective, disciplined approach, to further expand our national network of communities.

This strategic, sustained growth also creates opportunities for team members. Over the past year, our employee retention rate has increased while our job vacancy rate decreased significantly. This success translates into higher-functioning teams that provide best-in-class service to Erickson Senior Living residents across the country.

One of the most significant opportunities facing the industry is the unmet need for senior housing in many locations. That’s why we are looking to develop new communities in places like California, for example. The first members of the Baby Boomer generation to turn 80 years old will do so in 2026, just two short years away. The next 12 months will be critical to making sure that we are continuing to evolve our product and service offerings to serve this rapidly emerging generation of customers.

In the year ahead, I also expect inflation to continue to create challenges for our industry. Delivering a product that remains affordable in the face of rising construction costs and margin pressures is no small feat. I’m keenly aware that most of our customers live on a fixed income, so working to achieve that delicate balance between cost and affordability will be an important focus for us in 2024.

As we begin 2024, what excites me the most are the opportunities ahead of us. I am eager to bring the active, vibrant lifestyle that we offer to even more seniors because I have seen the benefits it affords, even to my own parents, who have lived at an Erickson Senior Living community for more than 10 years.

We are also excited to bring even more value to residents across the country by continuing to enhance amenities, programs, and services to support their comprehensive health and well-being. From upgraded fitness centers to pickleball courts to meditation gardens, these features are helping residents live even better, fuller lives together as part of our communities.

I’m even excited about the challenges we face because I look at each one as an opportunity to be at our very best. Based on our company’s history and experience, I have tremendous confidence in the team’s ability to rise to the occasion, remain nimble, and adapt to change. In just the last five years, we’ve faced a global pandemic, the Great Resignation, and more— and come out stronger and smarter. As I look ahead, I’m filled with pride and optimism for our future because of our team’s proven ability to evolve and improve.

Staying agile will remain a key priority for our organization in 2024. The new residents we welcome to our communities will have different needs and preferences from those who moved in even a few years ago. Exceeding their expectations is a daily commitment.

Our team is focused on honoring our brand promises to create a vibrant lifestyle and work environment for all of our residents and team members. That means providing unmatched financial stability and exceptional benefits for those who live and work at our communities – and to make health and well-being a priority. We know our winning culture is a powerful differentiator among prospective residents and employees, and I am dedicated to ensuring we continually evolve without sacrificing the fundamental values that make Erickson Senior Living such a great place to live and work.

This business will always be about people. The sense of community and belonging at our campuses is built on a foundation of strong relationships—team members supporting residents in making the most of their retirement years, and enriching friendships nurtured between neighbors and colleagues. We hear often that moving to one of our communities was the best decision a resident made; many share that they wish they had made the move sooner. In 2024 and beyond, our first priority will remain ensuring that everyone who joins us feels that same way.

John Cochrane, President and CEO, HumanGood

Last year, many of us, myself included, predicted something of a return to normalcy in 2023 following the pandemic: a rebound in occupancy, rent growth, and improved operating margins. We got one out of three. While occupancy did indeed improve, meaningful rent growth and improved operating margins proved elusive for many in our field.

And 2024? The new year could bring some of the biggest opportunities in our lifetime. We are at an intersection of a seismic and global demographic shift, a healthcare revolution in our understanding of wellbeing, and advancements in technology targeting (often wrongly assumed inevitable) biomarkers of aging, and we will have tools, resources, and opportunities in front of us like nothing we have ever seen.

No other field is better situated to pull all of this together into meaningful market responses that address many of the issues our core audience seeks. Mostly we will fail to fully understand and respond to these changes and instead cling to a slice of pie that is shrinking due to our inability to embrace the disruption right in front us—disruption we are uniquely positioned to understand and adapt to. Mostly.

Yet, we have reason to hope. While the past years were discombobulating, we had some success converting chaos to order, realigning our businesses, adopting technologies, and recasting services and pricing to match new expectations and realities. Let’s not waste the lessons of the last few years. For those willing to rethink, reimagine, and refocus, 2024 will be the year of the Great Restart. That’s the macro, opportunistic view.

At the micro operating level, the new year will continue to be a time of rebalancing the core economics of development and operations. If the economy achieves the soft landing that now appears possible, reduced interest rates could spur development of new (and reimagined) products. Labor costs will continue to increase albeit not at the rates we’ve seen in the last two years. Continued pressure on operating margins and increasing costs will lead us to rethink the core value proposition: what our customers want, what they receive, what they need, and what they are willing to pay for.

Cost pressures will severely strain the bundled services that make today’s core product seem unaffordable and unattractive to so many. The unwieldy service bundle has become a Quasimodian hump causing us to lurch from one revenue cycle to the next, working mostly in vain to cut costs and find new ways to charge for services customers increasingly tell us they don’t value. Ultimately, we could see something similar to what happened with the cable TV industry with an unbundling of services, both to control the price point charged to customers and to deliver only items they value and are willing to pay for. Moreover, we will need to more effectively partner with providers of some of these services. Direct-to-consumer opportunities have resonated with customers in other markets (i.e. Lyft and Uber, Amazon, telehealth) and meet needs more efficiently, cheaply, and frankly better, and we should expect to see more of these options in our sector.

While the immediate challenges with labor have abated for now, overall this will continue to be a huge area of focus as core demographics have not changed. Culture, compensation, retention, and professional/career development will be key focus areas for employers and employees. At HumanGood, we shifted from a focus on outside recruiting to an internal focus on developing more talent and opportunities from within—turning first to those who identify with our culture and work, are aligned with our mission, and exhibit a desire to grow a career in our industry.

At both the macro and micro level, the intersection of technology and healthcare will create the greatest changes and opportunities in our field. Increasingly, we are seeing a shift to a more informed consumer seeking personalized, qualified health span improvements with a real, measurable, and sustainable connection between services delivered and outcomes realized. The vapors and vague promises that have sustained us to date simply do not work and an increasingly sophisticated and skeptical consumer will not adopt and will not pay for an illusory promise. We need to show sustained, desired outcomes delivered efficiently in order to effectively compete for the new customer dollar.

Undergirding all of these changes is the need to significantly increase technology investment. Existing and emerging technologies will help us improve services, address unmet but critically important needs, provide services more efficiently, and reach people we are currently not able to reach via a purely real estate-centric sales model. In-home technologies give us the opportunity to build connections with customers long before they ever move into one of our communities, if indeed they ever do. Reducing costs, improving outcomes, and attracting new customers and the revenue streams attached to them will be increasingly vital to sustain organizational strength. The change we have been predicting is here and it is time to embrace innovative solutions that will help us grow our mission impact in new, exciting, and sustainable ways.

2024? Buckle up and start your engines.

Rob Liebreich, CEO, Goodwin Living

Access to care will continue to rise in value. One of the new realities is that there are not enough caregivers or places to receive quality of care, and therefore programs which offer guaranteed access to future care, like our Goodwin Living at Home program, will be sought out more and more by savvy consumers.

Demographics indicate it is not time to rest on becoming an employer of choice in your market. Yes, the market may seem like it is giving us some relief from extreme recruiting efforts, however, 2024 is the year to solidify your claim as a top place to work. One way Goodwin Living through our Foundation plans to do this is starting in January to offer to repay clinical school debt up to $5250 a year per team member.

2024, the year of the intentional welcome. This year more than ever before our organization will seek to offer an intentional welcome to those we serve and those who serve. We will welcome in more interns from high school and colleges around us so we can secure our future workforce; we will welcome more team members with tenure to stay in service longer; we will welcome in more refugees and immigrants into our workforce because we know we cannot provide our services without these important populations, and we will welcome the most diverse group of older adults into our service as our region continues to see a growing population of Black, Asian, and Hispanic older adults.

Brandon Ribar, CEO, Sonida Senior Living

In 2024 and beyond, owners and operators with access to capital should expect significant growth and expansion opportunities as undercapitalized projects come to market either through refinancing or recapitalization catalysts.

The rising likelihood that interest rates will tighten based on recent Fed commentary should set a more certain floor on financing costs and likely improve the availability of debt capital compared to the second half of 2023.

As the Cost-of-Living Adjustment tightens substantially against the previous two years, operators will face important decisions around market and in place resident rates.

Improved occupancy for the industry combined with ongoing demand increases and limited new supply should support the type of rate growth required to move margin once again in 2024. The use of technology to support more efficient operations and provide more advanced and personalized services and programming for residents also supports a higher price point on rent levels and more efficient operating models.

The industry continues to face confusion around the difference between independent and assisted living as the demographics and needs of our target markets evolve. At Sonida, we are investing in distinctive programming, like Joyful Living, to give our independent living communities a cultural upgrade that allows them to stay competitive with CCRCs, active aging communities and newer facilities.

As the care continuum tightens, we are focused on enhancing the healthcare services we provide in independent living to better support the unique and changing needs of our residents, allowing them to age in place more safely and comfortably.

With so many technological solutions available, we are interested in technology that can leverage the expertise of our team members to create operational efficiencies and refinement. We have used this model to build homegrown technology solutions that have already made a significant impact on labor management, staffing, employee retention and employee and resident satisfaction. Moving into 2024, we are excited about expanding those programs and looking for additional, innovative ways to use technology to establish genuine operational excellence that sets Sonida apart from other operators.

Chris Belford, CEO, Sinceri Senior Living

As Sinceri Senior Living enters a new chapter in the senior living industry, our focus remains on strategic planning, innovation, and a commitment to providing exceptional care for our residents. The coming year presents both challenges and exciting opportunities, and we are poised to navigate these dynamics with a forward-thinking approach.

Our growth strategy for the next 12 months revolves around the expansion of partnerships with various equity stakeholders. We are actively exploring innovative deal structures that ensure substantial equity participation. This approach is not only a key driver for our expansion plans but also underscores our commitment to fostering strong, mutually beneficial relationships. Additionally, since occupancy is above our pre-pandemic levels we are focusing on margin improvement. Lastly, our growth strategy continue to focus on opportunistic acquisitions and dispositions. If the capital markets show positive signs in 24, we will be looking to exploit opportunities.

Undoubtedly, staffing remains a critical challenge in the senior living industry. At Sinceri Senior Living, we recognize the importance of building and retaining a dedicated team. Our strategy involves not only expanding our recruitment efforts but also creating an environment that promotes employee retention. We believe that a committed and well-supported team is essential for delivering the highest quality of care to our residents.

While the challenges of 2020 and 2021 are not replicated, we anticipate a moderated growth in expenses, projected at around 4% annually. Our financial strategy is grounded in prudence, allowing us to navigate the financial landscape while maintaining our commitment to providing exceptional senior care. We believe that a careful approach to expenses is essential for the long-term sustainability of our organization and we seek help from our 3rd party vendors that can help build efficiencies within our organization. We will be looking for technological solutions and the integration of AI in senior housing that allows for predictive indications for our resident experience.

As we approach the new year, we acknowledge concerns, particularly around ongoing staffing challenges. However, these concerns are counterbalanced by our excitement for the evolving landscape and the opportunity to serve a new generation of older adults with innovative offerings and services. Our forward-thinking outlook positions us to embrace change and capitalize on exciting possibilities.

Looking ahead, our top priorities for 2024 revolve around sustainable growth, robust staffing solutions, and the well-being of our residents. We are committed to navigating challenges with agility, maintaining excellence in care, and embracing the opportunities that lie ahead. As the senior living industry continues to evolve, we remain steadfast in our commitment to providing exceptional care and shaping the future of senior living.

Greg Roderick, CEO; Kandice Alcorn, COO; Frontier Management

Roderick: 2024 will offer a better environment for operators as we have made many adjustments in our practices that will generate better results for all stakeholders including residents, team members and clients. Furthermore, interest rates will make a steady decline that will return borrowing opportunities, improved valuations and expansion capabilities. Finally, operators are likely to make a return to their abilities in participating in impactful efforts related to industry associations, fundraising and environmental awareness campaigns.

Adopting healthcare models to support our residents in their evolving needs for new interventions while enhancing our hospitality experiences has been fully integrated into our operational model. We have termed this the Frontier Advantage Network and our curated regional provider network has proven positive for our team to call upon for a wide variety of services that address changes of conditions. Further, our network of vendors have dramatically improved our hospitality format in culinary, life enrichment and environment.

Our associates or team members are the key ingredient to a successful business. Operators have made the right decisions to increase wages, increase learning and skills development opportunities, and to improve the quality of life of the team. For those seeking a career path in healthcare and a place were living wages, excellent benefits, a healthy work-life balance and a satisfying job that fills the soul can again be found in seniors housing. This will continue in the new year.

Operators are embracing customer service and loyalty with the clients and this is a positive shift. Teaming up and collaborating with clients and lenders has not always been the format of these relationships but now the value of the partnership approach is taking hold with far better outcomes. Our clients are a key component to our business model and we appreciate them. And, they know it.

Operators will continue to be more and more engaged in associations,

Organizations and other groups to help steer the evolving world of seniors housing, political decisions that directly affect our communities, and with our impact upon the environment. At Frontier Senior Living, we encourage involvement in state and national association initiatives, board positions and fundraising. We are working on environmental initiatives such as energy saving panels, minimizing use of styrofoam, and water conservation efforts. These and others are being implemented by many operators and I see more of this in 2024.

Finally, after 4 very challenging years (COVID, staffing shortages, inflation and credit crisis) there in an overwhelming sense of optimism that felt across our profession and we are no longer viewing each other as competitors but friendly participants who are in this together and who want to establish a better tomorrow for the next generation to embrace and carry our industry forward.

Alcorn: Additionally, I feel the industry will see a lot of changes over the next year. As the financial market moves in a more positive direction, I believe the industry will see more mergers of operators and new operators moving into the space from multi-family and skilled nursing.

Staffing will continue to be one of the largest challenges. Even though agency use has decreased across the industry, and operators have increased wages the influx of governmental influence on wages by driving minimum wage up to $20-25 per hour in a number of states over the next few years will pose a new challenge for staffing. This time it will not be based on the availability of staff; it will be the impact of wages on overall margins.

Overall, I would say the industry is stronger as a whole moving into 2024. We are seeing more collaboration between operators. Our industry association partners are stronger and more active today assisting operators regarding staffing, and regulatory challenges. Additionally, our vendor partners understand the impact the last 4 years had on the industry and are coming through strong with pricing and products to assist us to improve margins and provide quality service to residents.

Doug Leidig, CEO, Asbury Communities

We have a few bricks and mortar growth opportunities we hope to have finalized by the first quarter of 2024, and we are looking at the IL/AL business model with much less dependency on skilled nursing. That’s a trend across the industry, of course.

For 2024, our top priorities will be optimizing our operations, building cash reserves, and growing our diversified business lines. ThriveWell Tech has transformed itself from primarily offering MSP to helping providers plan for and achieve digital transformation, take advantage of RPA and data harnessing, and implement business systems automation and software such as NetSuite. They’re moving into new industries beyond senior living, including hotels.

In 2023 we finalized an acquisition of 2 new LIFE Centers in Pennsylvania, bringing our total number to 6, and we will be looking to increase admissions and optimizing the operations for LIFE. Through Edge Therapy we offer management services for providers who want to “in-source” their rehabilitation services.

Albright Pharmacy, which came through our affiliation with Albright Care Services in 2020, has been implemented in all our Pennsylvania and Maryland communities, which necessitated building out a pharmacy fulfillment center at our Gaithersburg community. All of our skilled nursing and assisted living residents use Albright, but independent living residents have a choice – so our focus in 2024 is to continue growing adoption in that market. I think there will be ample opportunity for organizations to grow, but unfortunately, we still see many starting to look very late in the game. Because of that, they require substantial capital investment,

creating challenges for buyers or potential affiliation partners. I believe a majority of growth for our industry will be acquisition/affiliation rather than green fields because of high material costs and ongoing construction labor shortages.

You asked what most worries us, and it’s access to capital. Banks and lenders are starting to really tighten their requirements for our industry to borrow money. I believe if we continue growing through acquisition, the ability to borrow capital will be extremely tight, and banks may be highly conservative about the amount we can borrow. This is why I believe we will spend more time in 2024 expanding our current business lines.

We’ll continue with workforce-related issues, but I feel confident that they are starting to flatten out as wage increases and the job hopping we saw during and after the pandemic have stabilized. At Asbury, we are having success with hiring new associates and our retention rates have dramatically improved over the past year, thanks to a hard focus on that. We made changes in several areas, including our Belonging culture, enhanced benefits, and recruiting software and processes. We set a goal to reduce our turnover rate to no more than 42.5% and exceeded that by 4%.

Dwayne Clark, CEO, Aegis Living

I’m really, really bullish on where we’re going to be in 18 months from now. Super bullish. You’ve had this lack of new development in a period that’s gone on for almost five years. We all know what’s going to happen at the end of ‘25 and the beginning of ‘26: The first baby boomer turns 80 years old. A five year hole in the development cycle — that’s going to be huge.

We’re planning for two interest rate cuts at 25 basis points that come in toward the end of the year. So, this can only get better for us now. That’s the opportunity.

We really focus a lot on employee wellbeing. I just think that’s critical. We’re seeing that becoming a bigger and bigger issue for staff. Mental health crisis is going up, suicide is going up, and the whole wellbeing issue is critical.

I think the employee work-at-home [outlook] is going to change dramatically. I think people thought in the beginning, “This is a huge win, I can work from home and I can be with my dog or my kids or whatever.” And I think people are missing the community and socialization piece of the office place more than they thought they ever would.

There needs to be an empathetic understanding of the Gen X workers. It’s a very different workforce and they have very different viewpoints and millennials and Gen Z do, they’re different in their own right. I think having empathy towards that and understanding and listening is super important.

I think volume creates opportunity. If you have more seniors, you’re going to have more niche markets.

We have to go into 2024 with our eyes wide open and hope for the best, but plan for the worst. If you do that, you’re going to be fine, because if you get to the other side in Q1 or Q2 of ’25 and you’re in good shape, you’re not crossing the finish line bloodied and beaten. I think tour and move-in velocity picks up and that’s a very good thing. Demand is over-stripping supply right now. I think you’ve seen margin improvement with that as well.

But we have to see what interest rates are going to do, that can’t be understated. If these banks start collapsing under the weight of debt that they get back on their balance sheet, it’s going to be problematic for a lot of people.

Gary Smith, CEO, Vi

In 2023, the theme of Vi’s holistic Living Well program was “Nurturing Resilience and Optimism –Establishing a Positive Mindset.” That theme was the framework not only for our lifestyle programming, but also for the many initiatives we rolled out across our 10 communities. What a perfect theme for the senior living industry as we continue to recover from the challenges we have been facing over the past four years.

Vi demonstrated resilience in 2023, and we are grateful for the dedication and commitment of our team members, as well as the support of our residents. We are fortunate to not carry debt, other than short-term construction loans that are fully repaid when the projects are complete. This conservative approach allows us to focus on continually enhancing our resident experience while still improving our own key financial metrics, which are outperforming budget for the year. Occupancy is at 90 percent across our 10 communities, and we expect it to continue to grow.

We’ve seen a return to pre-pandemic normalcy across our operations, which has enabled us to move a number of significant initiatives forward. We’ve continued to reinvest in our communities to ensure they can stand next to anything newer in their markets. Even with higher construction costs, we have maintained our reinvestment momentum. In 2024, our Vi communities in Scottsdale, La Jolla, Highlands Ranch and Hilton Head will continue and complete major renovations and remodeling to their common area spaces. Also in 2024, we will complete a $170 million phase of development at our Naples, Fla., community, expanding and renovating our care center venues, and opening 64 new Independent Living homes with entrance fees that average over $3 million.

Staffing: A key priority for us has been, and continues to be, recruiting and retention, a challenge that hit our industry harder than most. I’m pleased with the improvement Vi has made on this front. We prioritized speed to hire and implemented innovations like a new, unified platform for applicant tracking, candidate relationship management, onboarding, and career site, enhancing efficiency and providing candidates with a more enriching experience.

We’ve filled key positions across the company, and staffing and turnover are back to pre-pandemic levels. We released our inaugural REDI report, an assessment of our efforts to foster Respect, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, and look forward to continuing this journey, with the current focus being on addressing unconscious bias in recruiting, hiring, and retention. We place a premium on staff retention and engagement at Vi, and I was gratified that all of our communities and corporate office were certified as Great Places to Work in 2023, and we were again ranked by Fortune as one of the top five Best Workplaces in Aging Services.

Employee Communication & Development: We recognize the integral role of employee communications and a commitment to learning and development in retaining our valued employees. Vi’s internal communications platform, ViHive, accessible to all employees via smartphones or computers, experienced an 80% usage rate, affirming its value as a vital tool for employee connectivity. Our relaunch of enhanced leadership development cohort programs in 2023 was also a key element in our retention strategy for our communities and corporate office.

F&B: Excellence in dining has always been a brand pillar for Vi as we strive to fulfill our mission of bringing hospitality to senior living. We’re known for our great dining experiences. We also know that resident preferences around dining are shifting, and we expect this to continue. One-size-fits-all formal concepts are declining in popularity. In our yearly survey of all residents, we found that a growing number are interested in having a variety of dining opportunities, including casual and fast-casual options. We responded by implementing Fast Casual restaurant concepts at six of our communities and will expand this offering at additional communities next year. We are also piloting a new Grab & Go concept that will provide all-day access for residents to pick up meals and enjoy them at their convenience.

Technology: Technology continues to be a priority. That said, we tend not to chase every shiny object and don’t anticipate replacing our valued team members with robots any time soon – ours is a high-touch industry. We have, however, identified ways to leverage technology as a way to effectively engage residents. Our disciplined approach to validating the effectiveness of tech-based solutions was seen with a recent Virtual Reality case study pilot that showed statistically significant improvements in a variety of areas related to the wellbeing of Care Center residents. Based on this success, we plan to roll out VR programs at more Vi communities in 2024. Our Vi at La Jolla community is launching a new study of fitness equipment combining aspects of brain health and balance training. We see this “dual tasking” as the next wave of senior fitness engagement and are excited to pioneer these offerings.

Industry Challenges: On the eve of 2024, one of the biggest challenges for many in our industry is surviving our elevated interest rates. Even as occupancy levels have continued to rise across the industry, many companies in the senior living space have not been able to keep pace with rising expenses, which now include significant debt costs. This could play out over the next year in a major way, as loan maturities come due, which will result in both challenges and opportunities. As this occurs, we of course need to continue to keep our residents our top priority.

Lack of development financing also will remain an industry challenge in the near future, while we wait for interest rates to fall and for margin recovery to be sufficient to cover the inflated costs of new construction. Lack of availability of capital at rational terms will continue to impact Vi’s development plans in the short term. In the meantime, we see growth opportunity through selective acquisitions. We will continue to remain conservative, but will be actively seeking opportunities.

Outlook: The bright shining light for our industry is the pending wave of retiring Baby Boomers. Those on the front edge of this group are now 77 years old. Vi’s customer typically moves in at 80-plus. The number of Boomers coming down the road is mind boggling, with predictions that the U.S. population over 80 will increase by 8 million in the next 10 years and by over 12 million in the next 15 years. In 2023, we commissioned a study of 2,000 individuals aged 68 and above with a net worth of $500K and above. It revealed some key attitudinal shifts and preferences among Boomers that will inform how we market to, and serve, this group going forward.

In 2024, our Vi Living Well theme will be “Living Well Through Relationships-Connecting to Others for Social Fitness.” This is an evidence-based approach influenced by research demonstrating the connection between seniors who have strong relationships in their lives and are socially fit and positive outcomes in areas of mind, body and spirit. I give our Living Well team credit for identifying another theme that’s spot-on with the times. Relationships and connectivity, in all their forms, have never been more important to us as we work together to serve our residents, build community and move forward as an industry.

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