Roots Living Embraces Care Across Five Generations Of Senior Living Experience 

For Roots Living CEO Warren Tonack, senior living is part of a five-generation legacy.

The family first became involved when Tonack’s great-grandmother opened a facility in 1954, and the tradition has continued. Now evolved into its current iteration as Roots Living, the Siloam Springs, Arkansas-based operator is focusing on having quality offerings for residents and exploring expansion opportunities.

Roots Living has two communities in its portfolio, with the second acquired near the end of the Covid pandemic. The operator is focused on building out its “mom-and-pop” identity as well.

“There’s been a lot of consolidation, especially in the last five years,” Tonack told Senior Housing News. “During COVID, we were thinking [it] can be challenging to operate one building for decades to come without growing and building that little bit larger support team.”

Roots is taking a slow approach to future growth, looking years ahead, according to Tonack. The idea is to look for acquisition opportunities for buildings it can operate for decades to come.  

“We never want to grow for the sake of growing,” he said. “Every decision we make is so long- term oriented … Both of our buildings are 50+ years old. We want senior living to be a thriving industry for decades and decades to come.”

Given the age of its communities, Roots Living takes a holistic approach to maintaining the buildings while acknowledging they won’t be the “shiniest, new thing on the block,” but the approach has helped both communities reach full occupancy and expand into waitlists. Roots markets itself strictly to the middle market, which Tonack said is necessary for the areas it operates in.

Tonack cites the care and attention provided to upkeep its communities, which he said resonates with staff, residents and their families.

When it comes to additional growth opportunities, Tonack said it would require being with “someone that has a similar mindset,” and the operator has passed on previous growth opportunities due to misalignment.

“Maybe they’re a tired operator that really, really cares about their buildings,” he said. “Maybe they haven’t been professionally managed in the past … We know exactly that struggle that that operator might be going through.”

Alongside lease deals and acquisitions, Tonack said Roots has considered third-party management and would like to pursue ground-up development, but is holding off for now due to the high costs associated with it.

The remainder of 2026 will focus on identifying additional efficiencies across operations and trying to stay ahead of economic challenges, Tonack said. Over the past two years, Roots has averaged 95% occupancy over a 30% operating margin.

“Let’s take advantage of the good times while they’re here, because you never know what’s around the corner,” Tonack said. “We’re not trying to grow at any means necessary, but I just want to continue to forge those relationships with other operators or investors that that might bring good opportunities for us to continue to grow and support our community getting better.”

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