Thrive Senior Living is expanding its holdings overseas by launching a new management platform in South Korea with the largest multifamily operator in the country.

On Tuesday, Atlanta-based Thrive announced the formation of Thrive-GHP, a joint venture company that is aimed at serving older adults in the growing South Korean senior living sector. In the U.S., Thrive has 17 communities under management.

The operator’s other partner in the joint venture is GH Partners, a Seoul, South Korea-based company that manages nearly 20,000 rental apartment units in 40 properties and provides other services across the country.

Thrive-GHP will focus on active adult and independent living communities in South Korea, according to an announcement. Within those communities, the JV company plans to offer third-party care to support residents aging in place. In addition to management, the company also seeks to offer services that include brand licensing, technology partnerships and customer service training programs.

Thrive Founder Jeramy Ragsdale told Senior Housing News that the company sees a big opportunity to scale up in South Korea specifically. Like in the U.S., the country is facing a rapidly aging population that will require new support for older adults in the years to come.

“The residential and commercial investment markets are mature, but senior housing is really not an asset class there,” Ragsdale told Senior Housing News. “In terms of penetration into the market, there’s almost zero, and we see just a ton of investor interest beginning to grow in that space.”

He added that he sees plenty of demand in the region from capital sources for sophisticated operators with good track records.

“There are a couple of startups that are really more from the clinical side or more on care delivery, but there really isn’t a property manager that has a dedicated focus on seniors housing,” Ragsdale said.

The company over the last five years has gotten its feet wet in other countries in the region, including Thailand, where it has offered consulting and other kinds of services. But even before that, the U.S.-based senior living operator had quietly entered the United Kingdom senior living market with another JV partner about eight years ago. Thrive also has joint-venture holdings in Singapore.

Looking ahead, Ragsdale said the company will continue in South Korea and elsewhere overseas.

“There is some immediate business, and there will be more on that probably in the next 120 days as we get started on a few of these engagements,” he said.

Helping to fuel and underscore Thrive’s efforts in South Korea is the fact that its U.S.-based senior living portfolio has made progress growing and recovering in the last year. Last year, the company’s margins were heading in the right direction after regaining full occupancy at several communities.

Fast-forward to 2024 and the company is nearly ready to start developing again after a three-year pause.

“We have a small development pipeline that will begin to execute on … and will probably put the first shovel in the ground in Q1 of next year,” Ragsdale said.