Now at 26 Communities, Fast-Growing Distinctive Living Turns Focus to Operations

While Distinctive Living may be a new player in the senior living space, the company has grown rapidly since its founding at the beginning of 2021 and is now at 26 communities.

Distinctive Living and its development arm Distinctive Living Development were born not long after CEO Joe Jedlowski stepped away from Milestone Retirement Communities, a senior living operator he co-founded.

Jedlowski said the new company is in the midst of shoring up operations, tamping down expenses and finding solutions to the year’s most persistent problems.

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“What we need are buildings that we currently have to be successful and have better culture, better teams and we will organically grow our organization,” Jedlowski told Senior Housing News. “I want our portfolio to be maximized, efficient and profitable.”

‘More successful, more profitable’

Through Distinctive Living Development, the company holds 20 communities in various forms of development from active adult cottages to active adult congregate care. On the management side, Distinctive Living operates 26 communities ranging from 20-bed homes to larger 250-unit communities with its primary footprint in seven states. The company’s website also lists additional communities that would expand operations to nine states as the projects are currently under development at varying stages.

“I want our portfolio to be maximized to be efficient and to be very profitable,” Jedlowski said.

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Distinctive Living currently has plans to develop small-home cottages, as part of a wider plan to create pocket neighborhoods, a model that other senior living operators are also pursuing.

Distinctive Living is also launching an on-site home health component to give residents expanded access to health services while staying between a $2,500 and $4,000 monthly rental rates at the proposed pocket neighborhood community.

Developing an on-site home health component will allow Distinctive Living to help residents stay in their communities longer rather than transferring out to more costly, higher levels of care, Jedlowski said..

While the operator’s total revenue is up approximately 9% in 2022, Jedlowski said expenses continued to rise throughout the year, eating into the company’s margins. While he is confident those increases in expenses can be managed through monthly resident rate increases, he does not believe residents and their families will be amenable to those increases forever.

Agency labor made up a good portion of the company’s expenses, as well as overtime shifts for workers. But he said the tide is turning on the agency front as more new associates come into the fold and overtime costs ween the company off agency staffing.

To further cut down on expenses, Jedlowski said Distinctive Living communities have strengthened vendor relationships and identified costs that could be reduced or reallocated.. That also means flipping the script to identify and expand on new revenue opportunities, he added.

“We’re really trying to get creative around what are the ancillary services that we can create, not just to add costs but also service to our residents,” Jedlowski said.

Looking ahead to 2023, Jedlowski said the company was focused on optimizing its current portfolio. Although the company grew quickly in its early days, he sees more measured growth for the years ahead.

“What we need are buildings that we currently have to be more successful, more profitable and have better culture and that will organically grow our organization,” Jedlowski said.

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