Bill Pettit headshot
“We feel strongly that this sets us up
for success over the coming years,”
said Bill Pettit, president
of the R.D. Merrill Co., parent
company of Merrill Gardens.

Seattle-based Merrill Gardens has entered into a joint venture with an affiliate of ReNew REIT of Toledo, OH, to purchase more than two dozen assisted living and memory care communities from New Senior Investment Group of New York.

New Senior, on its third-quarter earnings call Nov. 1, said it was selling its entire assisted living / memory care portfolio — 28 communities — for $385 million. Blue Harbor Senior Living accounted for 15 of the properties; Grace Management, 5; Integral Senior Living, 4; Phoenix Senior Living, 2; JEA Senior Living, 1; and Watermark Retirement Communities, 1.

A Nov. 5 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission identified the buyer as ReNew. ReNew’s joint venture with Merrill Gardens involves 26 of the communities, including all 15 currently managed by Portland, OR-based Blue Harbor.

Just last week, Merrill Gardens announced that it was acquiring Blue Harbor and naming Blue Harbor’s CEO, Tana Gall, to succeed retiring Merrill President David Eskenazy. Gall previously was president of Merrill Gardens from 2013 to 2015.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year, and when it does, Merrill Gardens will have 65 communities in 17 states. Currently, the company operates 33 communities in eight states as well as three communities in China.

Merrill Gardens previously announced that it will be engaging in a strategy to produce a new Merrill brand for the Blue Harbor communities. The plan is to run the company as two brands, catering to different needs in the senior market.

“This agreement provides an important chance for us to expand our footprint and diversify our senior housing product by entering the more moderately priced market and offering quality senior living to residents who are focused on that price point,” said Bill Pettit, president of the R.D. Merrill Co., parent company of Merrill Gardens. “We feel strongly that this sets us up for success over the coming years,” he added.