Northstar Senior Living, Alta Merge, creating 40-community operator 

Senior living operators Northstar Senior Living and Alta Senior Living have merged, creating a company with 40 communities under management or ownership.

Now operating under the Northstar brand, the company is a “fully integrated senior housing platform,” combining the development and acquisitions experiences of Alta with the third party management skillset of Northstar, according to Principal and Board Chair Doug Brawn.

“We’re uniquely positioned to both own and operate the senior housing communities across a variety of structures, including joint ventures, strategic partnerships and the third-party management relationships,” Brawn told Senior Housing News. “Having this opportunity to join with such a solid, experienced operator like North Star Senior Living was fantastic.”

Prior to the merger, Alta managed seven communities. Combining the two companies was seamless, according to Brawn, due to Northstar’s larger size with a “robust management experience.”

The combined company has 40 communities either under management contracts or ownership and an additional 13 communities it handles accounting services for, which is yet another way the company plans to grow.

After finalizing the merger, Northstar began growing again with the acquisition of Bethel Retirement Community, a 198-unit independent living and assisted living community in Modesto, California. The community has nearly full occupancy and maintains an active waitlist, according to a press release. Northstar had managed the community on behalf of its previous owner prior to the sale.

Northstar’s plans for growth will include taking on additional management contracts for real estate investment trusts, other senior living operators, private owners and institutional owners, alongside pursuing acquisition opportunities, according to Brawn.

“We take it upon ourselves to meet with those ownership groups, understand their goals, what they’re looking for and if we can help them with disposition and with their short and long-term goals are, we’re there to provide those services to them,” Brawn said. “We’re going on all fronts.”

Looking ahead, the combined Northstar company seeks to grow along the Southern “smile states” of the country in California, where more than half its existing portfolio exists; Texas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia and both North Carolina and South Carolina. While there isn’t a target size for the portfolio in mind, the company focuses on large assets with independent living, assisted living and memory care.

“We want to really focus on the communities that make the most sense for the portfolio,” Brawn said. “We do want to grow it but also focus on what we think are the right assets to spur the growth.”

With Alta’s background and experience in ground up development, new construction will be on the table once conditions stabilize and replacement costs rebalance. Northstar is building out a development pipeline of around six communities, but doesn’t anticipate beginning to break ground before 2027. However, the operator is actively entitling properties so it can be ready as soon as possible, and is seeking value add construction projects in the meantime.

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