Sonida Senior Living has added nine senior living communities to its portfolio so far this year, all since May, the company announced Tuesday.
In May, the operator added Summit Corners, an assisted living and memory care community in Macedonia, OH. The community is close to the Summit Point senior living community already owned by Sonida.
“It’s a really good spot, a good part of the world, and we have enjoyed running the community there and had a really nice opportunity around the Summit Corners building as well,” President and CEO Brandon Ribar told the McKnight’s Business Daily on Tuesday.
July has been a productive month for the Dallas-based operator already, as the company executed two separate joint venture investments through which it acquired a total of eight senior living communities.
Sonida owns 51% of a joint venture with partner Palatine Capital Partners. The acquisition includes the recapitalization of four senior living communities in major metropolitan markets: San Antonio (2), Austin, TX (1) and Atlanta (1). The deal marks Sonida’s re-entry into Georgia.
“The company previously operated a couple of assets in Georgia, historically, and we like the characteristics of the markets in the Southeast as well as Texas and the Midwest,” Ribar said. “So I look for us to continue to focus our growth in those areas.”
A separate joint venture with partner KZ Family Ventures includes four senior living communities in the Cincinnati (1), Cleveland (1), Kansas City, MO (1) and Louisville, KY (1) markets. The Kentucky property is the first one Sonida owns in the state, yet it complements the company’s regional cluster in southern Indiana and Cincinnati, according to Ribar.
“We have a community literally across the border, just about 10 minutes away, so we already know that market quite well,” Ribar said.
Ribar said that for the deals, the company used part of a capital infusion via a $47.7 million equity raise that it had received in February, as well as “additional dollars that we had earmarked for acquisition activity,” including $19 million through its at-the-market equity offering instruments, which was completed in the second quarter.
In addition to the acquisitions, Sonida announced that in June it assumed management of two additional communities, in Minnesota and Wisconsin, that are owned by one of its real estate investment trust partners, which it did not name. Sonida said it expects to assume management of an additional community owned by the same REIT during the third quarter.
“I think we still believe and have a lot of optimism around the investment landscape between now and really the rest of the year and going forward,” Ribar said. “Transactions that we’re looking at and that we/ve been able to pursue so far, and will look to pursue, have highly attractive investment characteristics that we’re able to buy very high-quality real estate at valuations that are really attractive to our shareholders and to ourselves and to the business. I’d say that we also are just very confident in our ability to use our operating platform to improve the community performance when we step in.”
