With a new capital partner behind it, Senior Living Residences is gearing up for growth.
Earlier this year, health care private equity firm RiverGlade Capital backed the Braintree, Massachusetts-based operator. The two companies didn’t share terms of the deal.
SLR, which has 24 communities across the Northeast, is now preparing to grow through acquisitions, mergers and new development, according to President and CEO Tadd Clelland. SLR Founder Robert Larkin is set to retire in conjunction with the move.
“Bob and I built a company that we believe is built to last and is deeply rooted in our values,” Clelland told Senior Housing News. “Those right values have created a lot of stickiness with retention of not just our director level team, but also the frontline staff.”
The team’s home office staff has an average tenure of 14.5 years.
SLR is using the additional capital from RiverGlade to further invest in its operational and build out an internal business development platform.
SLR’s growth is under the goal of “bringing the best of SLR to complement and be great stewards for any other operators,” according to Clelland. The operator’s leaders believe ground-up development is becoming more feasible as the cost to buy approaches the cost to build and more institutional investors take interest in senior living.
“We don’t have a number,” he said. “We just want to make sure that any market we go into, not only are we the preferred assisted living, independent living and memory care provider, but also the preferred employer in those markets.
As the operator’s new capital partner, RiverGlade is investing in the operator, enabling it to to bring on a chief of staff to help scale up operations in preparation of growth. The company’s leaders in the remainder of the year are working to grow the company’s momentum with an average of 93% occupancy across the company’s communities.
“It’s not just a business and it’s not just about growth to me. It’s about the people that I serve as CEO that I want to protect while creating opportunities for growth for the people that have been very loyal to me and SLR over the years, and really tap into the expertise of RiverGlade to help us bring this to a broader region,” Clelland said.
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