Priority Life Care assumes management of 7 more Ventas-owned properties

Priority Life Care of Fort Wayne, IN, has assumed management of seven communities across five states in the portfolio of Chicago-based real estate investment trust Ventas.

The action, which occurred in December, follows the successful turnaround of 17 properties that PLC assumed management of for Ventas in late 2021, according to PLC. Those 17 properties, all in Pennsylvania, formerly had been managed by Eclipse Senior Living, which ceased business management operations at 90 Ventas communities in late 2021. 

“We are incredibly proud of the commitment, dedication and work of our team since we began management of these communities,” Sevy Petras, CEO and founder of PLC, said in a statement. The company was founded by the Petras family in 2009. 

“They’ve kind of built a reputation as turnaround specialists,” marketing specialist Kevin Erb, principal at marketing and communications firm Palisade Partners, told the McKnight’s Business Daily. “In the year plus since they took over those [properties], those communities have seen really market success in turning them around.” 

The PLC-managed Ventas properties cover the spectrum of senior living and care.

PLC’s approach to turning around underperforming communities, first of all, is to audit the sales process and the sales team to determine blindspots and weak points, and then PLC works with the staff members to make improvements so that they become “allied and integrated” with PLC’s way of doing business, Erb said. 

The process has led to increased revenue, less reliance on agency staff and lower monthly expenses, as well as 100% occupancy at times at five of the communities.

The secret sauce, according to Erb, is the family-oriented culture of PLC.

“Being a family-owned, family-started business, they really do infuse that value system and family culture into their communities,” he said. “So it’s not overnight, but it is part of the long term that they take to come in and make sure that those employees feel that they’re valued and really start to create this sense of family.”