Senior Living Operators Eke Out Partnerships, Projects To Grow Amid Development Slowdown

As senior living architecture firms are gearing up for growth, operators, too, are getting ready for expansion via new development.

The prospect of new senior living development is still far away. The industry is in 2026 at near record-lows for new construction as lending and construction costs challenges make new projects still tough to pencil out. The most recent NIC MAP data showed the senior living industry between 1Q 2025 and 1Q 2026 had about 0.4% worth of total units under construction as it relates to existing inventory.

Senior living operators know well they can’t just sit on their laurels and wait for development conditions to turn more favorable. The oldest baby boomers are in 2026 turning 80, and the clock is ticking to serve them with new and additional services. But operators can’t serve the generation beyond their current scale if all of their units are full. Simply put, not growing now could leave money on the table later.

Operators such as Belmont Village have had the advantage of working with development partners on high-end projects that can command higher rates and can therefore pencil out during planning. Most recently the company has partnered with companies such as Turnberry, a company that has completed high-end projects in the residential, hospitality and mixed-use sectors.

Another operator, Charter Senior Living, is linking up with companies actively pursuing growth to expand.

On the non-profit end of the business, organizations like 2Life Communities are pursuing more affordable projects while Buckner Retirement Services is continuing its years-long practice of implementing brands such as Cooper Aerobics into its growth plans.

Working with partners to keep the wheel turning

Operators like Belmont and Charter must keep their growth wheel turning. Both companies see working with outside partners that can develop new projects as a key to doing so.

Patricia Will, founder and CEO of Belmont Village, said the Houston-based operator is in the early stages of planning another community with Turnberry.

“I don’t think Turnberry is contemplating any other seniors housing development, except with us,” Will said. “They recognize that you can develop a building, but how you make the building is critically important.”

Turnberry initially approached Belmont Village to co-develop a senior living community together. The companies’ first community together has views of the Turnberry Golf Course and having Turnberry’s name associated with the community brings “enormous value” to the community and its marketing, Will said. The community’s layout puts common areas on the top floor, with outdoor dining spaces.

Currently, Belmont Village operates 35 communities. Following the success of the community, the two businesses plan to continue co-developing new projects into the future.

“The planning of the building, how it lays out, what are the spaces as co-developers was a very rich process,” Will said. “I think most people realize that a developer in search of an operator after the fact doesn’t really create great alignment. When your stakes are the same … and you can both contribute expertise, that’s a lot richer than a developer who hauls off to make seniors housing and then goes to find an operator to bring it to life.”

Will said working with Turnberry has helped the operator push the envelope on what senior living communities can offer residents.

“That was a double effort on Turnberry’s part and on our part to make something better than I think either of us would have done on our own” Will said.

Charter Senior Living has pursued construction in secondary markets such as White House, Tennessee; Winder, Georgia; Murray, Kentucky; and Linden, Michigan, where land and staffing is not as expensive as in larger markets. The company has three projects under construction now.

Charter’s construction projects are sometimes the latest project to enter a market. According to CEO Keven Bennema, the operator seeks development partnerships in markets it has evaluated as ideal for growth. That has helped the company lease up and reach full occupancy faster than expected in some communities.

Charter Senior Living manages 72 communities. The company’s current primary partner is DMK Development Group.

“For instance, in White House, Tennessee … the only option you had is you had to drive 10 miles to find a senior living community,” Bennema said. “When you really dug into the demographics … Those were all very those were all signs that, ‘Hey, this is going to explode.’”

Bennema said that he is excited about the upcoming years of demand and the company’s ability to grow with partners.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited about where the industry is going and the opportunities to develop,” Benema said.

Nonprofits grow via other avenues

Dallas-based Buckner Retirement Services has maintained a partnership with Cooper Aerobics, which founder Dr. Kenneth Cooper began as a practice in the 1960s. Both of the operator’s life plan communities in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area offer wellness and fitness programming from Cooper Aerobics, and they are looking to expand beyond those locations in the future, according to Michael Olmstead, vice president and chief operating officer of Buckner.

Buckner embeds Cooper staff within communities to lead its wellness programming. Buckner also markets its partnership, which attracts new prospects looking for the wellness-forward services in their later years.

“Through Cooper, we’re able to offer internationally respected health and wellness experts, and because it’s offered at the community, there’s no barriers to travel or scheduling,” he said. “It invites them to take an active role in their own wellness journey.”

Cooper could weigh in on future projects designs to better create an environment that facilitates “all aspects of wellness,” Olmstead said.

“For us, and probably for other providers, I think this has been a great example of not being afraid to branch out and look to organizations that provide value in ways that aren’t in the typical vein,” Olmstead said. “We’ve got to be on the lookout for other options like this.”

2Life Communities in December broke ground on a 150-unit affordable senior housing community in Lynn, Massachusetts called Solimine House.

2Life had to treat the community as “two separate condos” to get two different types of low income tax credit equity to maximize contributions from the city and state. 2Life began working on the project in 2021.

“It’s really, really complicated. There’s lots of additional legal work and lots of additional soft costs associated with that transaction, but it was the only way to get that deal financed,” Weinrobe said.

2Life is seeking to build a 127-unit affordable housing committee with a total of 19 sources of funding to cover around $96 million in development costs.

“You need to go after every potential funding opportunity possibly can, to close the capital gap,” Weinrobe added.

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