Thanks to a combination of low interest rates, an aging population, and increased demand for senior housing services, senior housing investment activity continued at a rapid pace this year. Providers and operators are taking notice of this, and some of them are now making special efforts to expand their investments in the sector as well. While the market remains dynamic and interest rates remain low, industry participants that are interested in following this strategy and growing through acquisitions should contact Cambridge Realty Capital to learn more about the different financing options that it offers for purchasing assets and for other purposes as well.
Earlier we mentioned that some senior housing operators are taking extra steps to increase their investments in the space. One example of this is Oregon-based Ridgeline Management Company (RMC). RMC operates 16 senior housing properties along the West Coast and in Indiana, Colorado, Nevada, Wisconsin, Texas, and Wyoming. But more importantly, it just created a separate company whose sole focus will be on investing in senior housing and increasing the number of investors that are affiliated with Ridgeline Management Company. During the past decade, RMC engaged in various acquisitions and development projects that have provided strong returns to its investors. It now hopes to use Ridgeline Partners to give provide similar returns and greater opportunities to a wider range of investors.
Ridgeline Partners Begins to Form
In order to make Ridgeline Partners a success, Ridgeline Management Company’s CEO and Co-Founder Chuck McGlade is making every effort to attract top talent to work there, starting with April Ekstrom. April Ekstrom will be Ridgeline Partners’ Managing Director and, although she is new to the senior housing industry, as the former Director of Operations for Radiology Associates, P.C., she has extensive experience in logistics, technology, systems, and strategy. For these reasons, Mr. McGlade is extremely excited about bringing Ms. Ekstrom on board, and believes she has the necessary skill set to make Ridgeline Partners as success.
Ms. Ekstrom will be assisted in this endeavor by Joe Callaghan and Ryan Housekeeper. Mr. Callaghan was formerly a senior vice president at the investment banking firm GMS Group, and is to join Ridgeline Partners as a Member Partner. Mr. Housekeeper is a former research associate at Integra Realty Resources and will act as the Director of Acquisitions and Development at Ridgeline Partners.
Ridgeline Partners operations are still in the early stages, but its desire to take advantage of the many opportunities in senior housing to generate additional investment profits is one that is shared by many other operators all across the country. As the senior housing market continues to perform well, other operators may choose to follow RMC’s lead and spin-off part of their operations to create an investment arm. Time will tell if this will happen or not, but if Ridgeline Partners is successful in generating strong returns for its providers, the future of senior housing may include more companies like it that were originally part of a larger operator or senior housing provider.
