The top three senior living operators and top three owners remained unchanged from 2020 as the American Seniors Housing Association released its ASHA 50 lists for 2021 on Wednesday. But the top 10 saw some shake-ups compared with last year.
On the list of largest operators, the top three companies for 2021 are Brentwood, TN-based Brookdale Senior Living, Des Moines, IA-headquartered LCS and Winter Park, FL-based Holiday Retirement, just like last year.
McLean, VA-headquartered Sunrise Senior Living, No. 4 this year, and Newton, MA-based Five Star Senior Living, No. 5 this year, switched places from last year’s list of largest operators.
Places 6, 7 and 8 remain unchanged from last year, held by Baltimore-headquartered Erickson Senior Living, Louisville, KY-based Atria Senior Living and Chicago-headquartered Senior Lifestyle, respectively.
No. 9 on the 2021 list of largest operators, Tucson, AZ-based Watermark Retirement Communities, moved up from 2020’s rank of No. 11 and displaced Dallas-headquartered Capital Senior Living, which fell to No. 27 on the 2021 list.
Bonita Springs, FL-based Discovery Senior Living and Chicago-headquartered Enlivant swapped positions from 2020 to 2021, with Discovery moving from No. 14 in 2020 to No. 10 in 2021 and Enlivant moving from No. 10 in 2020 to No. 14 in 2021.
Largest owners
On the 2021 ASHA 50 list of largest owners, the top three companies are Toledo, OH-based real estate investment trust Welltower, Chicago-headquartered REIT Ventas and Brookdale, just like last year.
No. 4 and 5 on the 2021 list are Newton, MA-based Diversified Healthcare Trust and Chicago-headquartered Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, respectively, displacing Denver-based Healthpeak Properties and Boston-headquartered Boston Capital from 2020, both of which left the top 50 list for 2021. Diversified had ranked sixth last year, and Harrison had ranked eighth. Healthpeak announced in 2020 that it would be shifting its focus away from seniors housing except for continuing care retirement communities.
No. 6 and 7 on the 2021 list of largest owners are Boca Raton, FL-based DigitalBridge Group (formerly Colony Capital) and Murfreesboro, TN-headquartered National Health Investors, respectively, which moved up from the No. 7 and 9 spots on the 2020 list.
Completing the top 10 list of largest owners for 2021 are Washington, D.C.-based National Senior Campuses, New York City-headquartered New Senior Investment Group and Boca Raton, FL-based Kayne Anderson Real Estate Advisors, in the No. 8, 9 and 10 spots, respectively. National Senior Campuses oversees the development and operation of communities by Erickson Senior Living, which ranked 20th on the list last year. New Senior Investment Group and Kayne Anderson Real Estate Advisors ranked 11th and 13th, respectively, in 2020.
Ventas recently acquired New Senior Investment Group, and DigitalBridge recently agreed to sell more than 140 senior housing communities and skilled nursing facilities in a $3.2 billion deal, suggesting further changes for next year’s rankings.
Data are current as of June 1. Each list includes 50 companies; see the complete operator and owner lists here.
