Mt. Laurel, NJ-based Brandywine Living’s senior living management platform is being acquired by Roanoke, VA-based Retirement Unlimited Inc., RUI announced Wednesday.
Following the transaction, the combined company will consist of 59 communities with more than 6,739 independent living, assisted living and memory care units.
“Our team is proud of the company we have built over the past 27 years,” Brandywine Living co-founder, president and CEO Brenda J. Bacon said in a press release announcing the transaction. “Brandywine has touched tens of thousands of lives, and it was time to ensure that Brandywine continued to thrive going forward. During this transition period, the dedicated and caring team we have built at both the community and corporate levels will remain in place and I know will be as focused as they have always been on providing great care, service, engagement and fun to our residents.”
Bacon, a 2019 McKnight’s Women of Distinction Hall of Honor inductee and 2022 American Seniors Housing Association Senior Living Hall of Fame inductee for her long and illustrious career, chaired Argentum’s board from 2013 to 2015 and currently is a member of its board. The company’s communities frequently have been recognized for their creative efforts during the National Center for Assisted Living’s National Assisted Living Week activities.
Brandywine was founded in 1996. Its 31 senior living communities predominately are concentrated in New Jersey, with additional communities located in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania. The communities will continue to operate under the Brandywine Living brand name to ensure continuity for residents and staff members, RUI said.
The 40-year-old RUI currently manages 28 communities across the East Coast and has additional communities in development.
RUI CEO William Fralin and RUI President Doris-Ellie Sullivan, also a member of the Argentum board, will continue in those roles for the combined company. RUI said that key property- and corporate-level leaders from Brandywine will be blended with RUI’s leadership structure.
“We believe the alignment of our two companies’ cultures and missions, along with our shared partnership with Welltower, will aid in the integration of these well-located and market-leading communities into the RUI family,” Sullivan said.
RUI’s partnership with the Toledo, OH-based real estate investment trust began in late 2022 when RUI assumed management of the former Fountains at Washington House in Alexandria, VA. With the management change, RUI also unveiled the community’s new name, Elancé at Alexandria, which represented the first installment in RUI’s new luxury brand of Elancé communities. Since that time, RUI has continued to scale through acquisitions and transitions.
As of Sept. 30, Welltower had 99.4% ownership of the 29 Brandywine communities in its senior housing operating portfolio, according to a presentation posted on the REIT’s website. The communities had a total pro rata unit count of 2,704. The REIT was the largest owner of senior housing as of June 1, according to the American Seniors Housing Association’s ASHA 50 list for 2023, with 943 properties and a total of 95,281 units.
On a separate ASHA 50 list of the largest senior housing operators, the combined RUI and Brandywine would appear in the 28th position, based on the 2023 rankings and assuming no changes in unit numbers among other operators on the list.
Brandywine was No. 59 on Argentum’s 2023 list of largest senior living providers, and RUI was No. 72.
“RUI has been presented with a unique opportunity to merge two operations with shared values and tremendous talent. We believe this combination will be a dynamic success,” Fralin said.
RUI is owned and operated by the Virginia families of Fralin and Waldon and is led by its third generation of Fralins and second generation of Waldrons.
