Maplewood Senior Living has reached a 95% average occupancy rate across its senior living portfolio (independent living, assisted living and memory care), with multiple communities currently at 100% occupancy, the Westport, CT-based operator announced Thursday. 

That level is significantly above the national average. Senior living occupancy is on its way to 10 consecutive quarters of positive growth, according to NIC MAP Vision’s November intra-quarterly snapshot report. Even so, those data showed that the overall occupancy rate for the 31 primary markets examined increased to 86.1% in November.

Maplewood operates in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Ohio. The company has 15 senior living properties, one of which also offers skilled nursing, under the Maplewood name, as well as the Inspīr Carnegie Hill luxury senior living community on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. An additional property, Inspīr Embassy Row, a luxury high-rise, is slated to be completed in Washington, DC, in 2024. The Inspīr brand, officially launched in 2017, is geared toward older adults living in major urban markets.

“We continue to be excited by the strong occupancy numbers at Inspīr and are thrilled that the balance of the Maplewood Senior Living portfolio has achieved a 95% occupancy rate,” Maplewood Chief Operating Officer Shane Herlet said in a press release. 

Herlet told the McKnight’s Business Daily that the communities’ success starts with their staff members.

“I know that can be cliché at times, but without the talented folks that we have running our buildings and going to work there each and every day, providing those great experiences for the residents, we would not be able to achieve those results,” he said.

To that end, he said, Maplewood has invested in recruiting and retaining the members of its workforce.

“We’ve put forth incredible wage growth efforts, training initiatives, non-direct compensation considerations; e.g. 401(k) enhancements, tuition reimbursement — everything that we can do to increase the length of stay for our associates — because we feel that that is a direct correlation with the length of stay of our residents,” Herlet said.

Catching up on Omega rent deferrals

Earlier this year, Omega Healthcare Investors announced a lease restructuring plan with Maplewood. The Hunt Valley, MD-based real estate investment trust said at the time that it intended to defer Maplewood’s rent escalators through 2025, as well as interest on a $250.5 million secured revolving credit facility. Cash interest payments are planned to be phased in starting next year.

According to Omega, in November, Maplewood paid $3.5 million less than its contractual rent and was anticipated to pay $3 million less than its contractual rent in December.

Maplewood Chief Investment Officer Tom Gaston told the McKnight’s Business Daily that Omega has “been an incredible partner.”

“They’ve been our sole source of capital, and we’re just about there,” he said, adding that Maplewood expects to catch up with its obligations to Omega during 2024. 

Gaston attributed many of the company’s year-end shortfalls as “just a residual” from the sudden death last spring of Inspīr President and CEO Gregory Smith. 

With a background in real estate development and hospitality, Smith founded Maplewood and its Inspīr brand, with the first Maplewood community, Maplewood at Danbury, in Danbury, CT, opening in 2006.

“It’s really no reflection on the operating performance whatsoever,” Gaston said.