From The Magazine

By Hayden Spiess Working in seniors housing is more than just a job, says Michael Pittore. Rather, “it’s something that is part of your DNA.” This is true of no one more so than Pittore and Forrest Westin. The two executives, who recently took over leadership of Agemark Senior Living as co-CEOs, are actually the sons of the company’s founders and original leaders.  In the mid-1980s, real estate developers Richard Westin and Jesse Pittore met in San Francisco. Then, in 1985, the pair partnered on their first seniors housing project …

By Beth Mattson-Teig Real estate investment trusts (REITs) have their foot firmly on the gas when it comes to acquiring seniors housing assets, and they’re taking full advantage of the opportunity to buy at below replacement cost.  The appetite to grow portfolios, particularly on the private pay side of independent living, assisted living and memory care, comes as no surprise given the combined tailwinds of growing consumer demand and a slowdown in new supply.  While the aging population has led to accelerating demand, the high cost of development has forced …

An increase in stability and debt availability will lead to an uptick in transactions but not all buyers — or properties — are created equal.  To say that the seniors housing sector has encountered strong headwinds over the past few years would be an understatement. The property sector was uniquely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It scarcely had a chance to recover and enjoy rebounding occupancy before being faced with the reality of heightened interest rates. Amid all the challenges, industry professionals adopted a motivational yet pragmatic mantra and strategy: …

Demographic shifts prompt developers to focus on fast-growing cities in the South and West to attract new residents.  Which markets are hot? While developers scour the Mountain West and Mid-Atlantic states for promising sites, one senior living investor likes the somewhat unlikely spot of Rockford, Illinois.  LTC Properties (NYSE: LTC), a real estate investment trust, has provided a construction loan for The Courtyard at Loves Park, a 116-unit senior living project under development in Loves Park, Illinois, a suburb of Rockford. The mid-size, Midwestern city with a rocky history after the …

The consensus among lenders in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s LEAN healthcare mortgage insurance program is that loan volume in fiscal year (FY) 2025 will surpass the prior year’s total of $3.1 billion due to a combination of factors. The lending program, which stems from Section 232 of the National Housing Act, plays a vital role in helping finance nursing homes and assisted living facilities. HUD LEAN is a streamlined program for processing Section 232 applications. “Lending volume should only rise in 2025,” predicts Sampada D’silva, chief …

Many nonprofit organizations will likely be forced to sell seniors housing properties and skilled nursing facilities over the next year after succumbing to years of high costs and slowly recovering occupancies. Several have already come to the closing table. Smaller nonprofits — organizations that own one or two properties — have been especially hurt by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic that struck the seniors housing and care industry in early 2020. Numerous federal, state and local pandemic programs that provided support expired over the last two years. Meanwhile, …

The nonprofit continues to leverage acquisitions, affiliations, technology and philanthropy to expand its seniors housing and aging services footprint across the country. When it comes to business names, Transforming Age aptly and succinctly describes the purpose of the nonprofit organization based in Bellevue, Washington.  Sure, the nonprofit operates 75 market rate and affordable seniors housing properties as well as 13 active adult assets in a handful of Northwest, West and Midwest markets. But housing is merely one part of its broader mission to improve the lives of older adults through …