Editor’s Picks: Brookdale for Sale?

As confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet took place on Capitol Hill, we brought readers the most recent news in the senior housing world.

Namely, private equity giant Blackstone Group is rumored to be in talks to acquire Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD); assisted living occupancy fell to its lowest level since 2010; and plenty of senior housing providers are approaching new competition and renovations all wrong, according to an industry expert.

Here in the newsroom, we were intrigued by a TechCrunch article that explained what entrepreneurs should keep in mind before starting an aging services company.

Most Read

Blackstone Rumored To Be in Takeover Talks with Brookdale—Rumors that private equity giant Blackstone Group is in talks to acquire Brookdale Senior Living circulated earlier this week. Shares of the nation’s largest senior living owner and operator surged, ending the trading day up nearly 15%. The talks are at an early stage and involve other suitors in addition to Blackstone, according to unnamed sources cited by The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news. 

NIC: Assisted Living Occupancy Falls to 6-Year Low—At 87.6%, assisted living occupancy dropped to its lowest level since early 2010, according to the latest data from the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC). The end-of-year drop in occupancy can be attributed primarily to record-breaking inventory growth, Beth Burnham Mace, chief economist at NIC, said to Senior Housing News.

What Senior Living Communities Get Wrong About Renovations—As newer, flashier senior housing begins opening in various markets across the United States, older communities are “scrambling” to position themselves as the better local option, according to Dean Maddalena, president of Austin, Texas-based senior living interior design firm studioSIX5. Unfortunately, some communities begin to consider sprucing things up only after their residents have been lured away by a new building across town. But that’s too little, too late.

Under Pressure, Providers Go Big on Ancillary Services—Amid pressing business challenges and a changing resident demographic, the senior living industry is increasingly seeking out additional avenues to come out on top, with ancillary services playing an ever-larger role. These additional amenities and clinical services encompass everything from massage therapy and salons to dermatology and X-rays, administered on site at senior living communities in an effort to serve residents as completely as possible. 

Weekend Reads

Six Truths for Successful Startups Tackling the Older Adult Care Opportunity—There are six major things an entrepreneur should consider in order to create a successful business that caters to older adults, according to TechCrunch.

5 Elderly Siblings Move Into Same Assisted Care Center to be Together—Five siblings between the ages of 85 and 98 live together at the Jeffrey and Susan Brudnick Center for Living in Massachusetts, KSL.com reported.

Supporters Raise Over $40,000 to Keep 108-Year-Old in Home—A GoFundMe page has raised over $40,000 for Carrie Rausch, a 108-year-old who longs to continue living in the assisted living community where she’s lived since age 105, Fox News reported. Rausch’s current community does not accept Medicaid, and she has outlived her assets.

Written by Mary Kate Nelson