Senior living small-home franchise company Avendelle Assisted Living has inked a partnership with AWK Development in an effort to grow its model in Pennsylvania and potentially beyond.

Through the partnership, AWK will build homes on behalf of Avendelle and its franchisee partners, with Avendelle responsible for finding care home operators and getting them into operational shape. The partnership has already resulted in pre-construction and design efforts ahead of construction of a new small home development in Pittsburgh.

Raleigh, North Carolina-based Avendelle has 18 franchise locations in Florida, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina. The company’s locations tend to house 6 to 10 residents and are modeled like residential homes.

The development in Pittsburgh will be “significantly larger” than the company’s previous homes and house14 to 16 residents. The community is currently under development with project designs under development and an anticipated opening late this year or in early 2026, Bunting added.

“It’s introducing the larger model for the first time and it’s also introducing an investor model on a large scale,” Bunting told SHN on Tuesday. “We’re going to expand rapidly and keep duplicating this model.”

Avendelle COO Bill Bunting said the company could also expand in California and Delaware due to existing relationships in the Golden State. With the AWK partnership, Bunting said the move represents the latest step in the company’s franchise model.

“We want to go where it makes sense and with the residential model, and we see new opportunities from this partnership,” Bunting said.

AWK Development Owner James Abdulla added, “We share a strong commitment to community-focused development, and we look forward to expanding their footprint in the area and introducing their exceptional standard of care to Pittsburgh.”

Franchise operators of these care homes that Bunting describes as an alternative to traditional senior living in a more intimate, home-like setting typically serving fewer than a dozen residents. Franchise operators typically invest $150,000 to $200,000 to participate in the Avendelle model, Bunting added.

In order for the partnership with franchisees to run smoothly, Bunting said Avendelle has added new corporate support leaders to improve communication between care homes and Avendelle, specifically an operations manager and two new staff onto the company’s development team.

He described the company’s ideal operator as an investor that is passionate about senior care and wants to get involved in daily operations.

Outside of the typical operating challenges that arise in high-acuity assisted living, Bunting said the biggest obstacle facing the organization was a lack of awareness of the franchise senior living model. That’s something he and others operating small residential care homes must work on to improve visibility in order to reach new demand for senior living this year and beyond.

“We want to find the right people and we want to grow the right way,” Bunting said.