Arizona company buys 3 Pinellas assisted living homes for $61.5M
Correction: An earlier version of this story said the three Pinellas County properties were purchased by a Tampa company that operates Inspired Living senior homes. The buyer is an Arizona company called Inspired Senior Living. This article has been corrected with the right information.
An Arizona company that operates assisted living facilities across the nation has added three Pinellas homes to its portfolio.
Inspired Senior Living spent $61.5 million on properties in Dunedin, Pinellas Park and Largo. All three closed within the past month, according to Pinellas County records. The firm paid $26.5 million for Grand Villa of Dunedin on Sept. 16, $15.5 million for Grand Villa of Pinellas Park on Oct. 6 and $19.5 million for Grand Villa of Largo on Oct. 11.
The facilities were previously owned by limited liability companies tied to ValStone Partners, a Michigan private equity firm that specializes in senior living facilities. ValStone also owns Grand Villa properties in St. Petersburg, Clearwater, New Port Richey, Sarasota, Lakeland and 10 other properties around Florida.
Eric Abel, founder and principal at ValStone, said the property’s value had “stabilized,” and the firm could see a positive return on its investment, so it decided to sell. ValStone is not currently looking to sell its other Florida properties, he said.
“Pinellas County is a great senior market,” Abel said.
Inspired Senior Living is an arm of Scottsdale, Arizona investment company Inspired Health Care. It is not related to Inspired Living, a Tampa company that operates homes in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sun City Center and Bradenton.
Change in ownership at long-term care facilities can bring uncertainty for families.
Kevin Gardner, whose 83-year-old father, Richard, has Alzheimer’s disease and lives at the Pinellas Park property, first heard about the potential change of ownership on Aug. 2, according to a letter sent from its previous management company.
“There were no details whatsoever,” Gardner said. “They didn’t mention if the rates were going to change. They didn’t mention anything.”
Shortly after the announcement, he said a facility staffer told him by phone that prices may raise to “market rates” at his father’s annual renewal date in December.
“My dad’s been in this facility for two and a half years now,” Gardner said. “We were really lucky to find it. He really has made a home there. And now it just seemed like, ‘Oh, my gosh, no, we survived COVID, could all this still be upended?’”
Two months later, after the new management company had assumed ownership, Gardner said most of the transition had been “seamless.”
“The only thing I don’t know is how much rent is going to cost,” he said.
A letter sent by the new management company, Volante Senior Living, on Sept. 22 mentions that families will need to send payments for November by check, but does not mention whether rates will change the following month.
“We will be sending out additional communication shortly after the transition and will host a social hour so we can get to know each other,” the letter, signed by Marika Tufteskog Johnson, the company’s senior vice president, read.
