Senior living operator Enlivant is facing potential eviction from its headquarters amid financial restructuring struggles and layoffs at its Chicago corporate support center.
Beacon Capital Partners filed an eviction lawsuit last month in Cook County (IL) Court against Enlivant, which had informed Beacon of plans to close its 32,000-square-foot office starting last month on Sept. 1, according to The Real Deal.
Beacon is asking Enlivant to vacate its headquarters and pay more than $150,000 in back rent owed for a missed September payment, plus future rent payments to cover its lease through November 2025, according to the media outlet. Enlivant has leased the space since 2014.
The HQ action follows Enlivant’s filing of a notice in June indicating that it was laying off 284 employees at its Chicago corporate support center. Another 194 employees were expected to be let go in July, followed by additional layoffs each month through the end of the year. The notice listed “closing” as the type of event for the layoffs.
The senior living company has been the center of financial issues for the past few years.
Effective May 1, Sabra Health Care REIT withdrew and resigned its membership in a joint venture through which it owned with TPG Real Estate 157 assisted living communities operated by Enlivant across 18 states. The Irvine, CA-based real estate investment trust initially had announced in August 2021 that it planned to exit the JV, leading to a financial restructuring of the Enlivant portfolio, which Sabra said had “taken a hit during the pandemic.”
An audit report issued earlier this spring found “substantial doubt” about the ability of the JV’s Enlivant portfolio to continue as a going concern. The audit said that the COVID-19 pandemic had created significant cost increases and lost revenue, resulting in declining income and cash flow that led to a default on its credit facility and mortgage note debt agreements.
During a second-quarter earnings call in August, Sabra also announced that it had transitioned 11 senior living communities formerly managed by Enlivant to Inspirit Senior Living, an existing Sabra operator. Those 11 communities were not part of the joint venture.
Enlivant slipped off the ASHA 50 lists of largest senior living owners and operators for 2023, compiled by the American Seniors Housing Association, after having placed 13th on the operator list and 16th on the owner list in 2022. The 2023 lists use data current as of June 1.
The company was No. 11 overall and No. 5 for assisted living on Argentum’s 2023 list of largest senior living companies. Data for that report were current as of Dec. 31.
The company’s website as of Monday listed six communities across four states: one community each in Idaho, North Carolina and Tennessee, and three communities in Indiana.
Enlivant had not responded to requests for comment from McKnight’s Senior Living by the production deadline.
