Franklin, Tennessee-based senior living providers Vitality Senior Living and Traditions Senior Living have joined forces to form a new company called Vitality Living.
The company’s combined portfolio will span 12 communities across the Southeast by year’s end, with five new developments scheduled to open in Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida and Texas over the next two years, Vitality announced Wednesday.
The owners behind Traditions bought into Vitality, and will become partners in the new company, according to Vitality Senior Living CEO Chris Guay. Wes Bartlett, the former CEO of Traditions Senior Living, will now assume the role of COO, and the company’s other leaders will simply transfer their roles to Vitality Living.
“The combined companies had very natural synergies,” Guay told Senior Housing News. “First, we shared similar mission, values and visions for this industry. From a business perspective, we had no overlapping geographies.”
The new company will grow through third-party management, acquisitions and developments, Guay added.
Vitality, which was founded in 2016 and underwent a refresh of sorts this year, recently struck a deal to manage five senior living communities in Florida for YourLife Senior Living, an affiliate company of the Olson Land Partners Portfolio. Vitality also reached an agreement to exclusively manage YourLife’s new properties in Florida as the company develops them.
“This merger will enhance our ability to support YourLife communities and their overall growth plans,” Guay said. “We remain the exclusive operating partner for YourLife Senior Living, and count them as a strong partner for our current and future success.”
Guay previously worked for Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD) as northeast division president, where he oversaw 275 communities across 18 states. He was before that a senior executive with Emeritus Corp., where he led the company’s Nurse on Call acquisition.
Before the merger, Traditions Senior Living specialized in independent living, assisted living and memory care services, and managed six communities in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee, according to its website.
Written by Tim Regan