Solvere Living is a third-party management service with a growing list of ownership and development partners. But the company has plans to own real estate within the next three years, and its parent organization has a unique slate of services intended to keep it busy during the ebb and flow of the cyclical senior living industry.
Currently, Solvere operates 15 communities in Florida, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Texas, Maryland, Virginia and Oklahoma. The company works with nine owners, including Sabra Health Care REIT (Nasdaq: SBRA); multifamily developer Bonaventure, which recently laid out plans for a $200 million senior living pipeline; and expanding national health care real estate firm, Caddis.
The senior living provider has had an active year thus far, and is planning more growth in the months ahead — though not so much that it dramatically expands, according to Kristin Kutac Ward, president and CEO of Solvere’s parent organization, Solutions Advisors Group (SAG). Solvere will have 21 senior living communities under its management by Aug. 1, and is on track to open sales offices for four forthcoming communities this fall.
“Our aspiration is to remain small enough that we can remain innovative and creative,” Ward told Senior Housing News. “We don’t have aspirations to grow larger than that 30 mark.”
While the majority of Solvere’s communities operate under a third-party management contract, the company also seeks to own properties in the next three years.
“As some of those third-party contracts roll off, our opportunity is to purchase a few of those ourselves or invest more heavily in some of them,” Ward said. “We want to grow the percentage of those that we have a larger ownership stake in, but not grow larger in size.”
The name Solvere comes from the Latin word for solve. Additionally, Salus, its wellness philosophy; and Valeo, its memory care framework, come from the Latin words for “wellbeing” and “thrive,” respectively.
“Solvere is focused on abilities, not disabilities,” Ward said. “We really focus on self-efficacy by promoting residents’ independence, even in a memory care setting.”
Three-pronged approach
Solvere is the senior living management arm of St. Petersburg, Florida-based Solutions Advisors Group. In addition to Solvere, SAG also has under its umbrella Solutions Advisors, the marketing, advertising and sales consulting services arm; and SA Digital, its digital marketing agency.
Part of that thinking was driven by Ward’s own experience working as COO of American Heritage Communities, a company that developed continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) in Pennsylvania through the economic downturn in 2008.
“During the [Great Recession] they planned to build more CCRCs. I wanted to slow down,” Ward said. “They ended up going bankrupt.”
So, Ward founded SAG as a consulting and management services company in 2009. Today, she hopes that by staying diversified in it services, the company will have a robust client base even in leaner operational times.
“Our goal is to … be diverse enough that we can utilize folks across the board, and not have to be forced to do a reduction in labor [during a downturn],” Ward said.
SAG’s distinct service lines also synergize in unique ways.
“We feel our experience on the consulting side gives us a lot of insight and helps us operating communities, as well,” Ward said. “Our goal was to always have equal business on both sides.”
Companies featured in this article:
Bonaventure, Caddis, Sabra Health Care REIT, Solutions Advisors Group, Solvere Living
