Management

2020 and 2021 will be known as the era of heightened Problem Solving/Solution Finding at ISL. New safety protocols were instituted with lightning-fast speed. PPE, air purifiers, temperature monitors and other safety items were purchased and installed. Ways of interacting with our residents, their families and prospects evolved quickly. Our teams of professionals at each community took the definition of resident care to even higher levels. We experienced loss. We experienced pain. We also experienced resiliency and hope. The overwhelming majority of our residents and associates were kept safe. Our programming changed with the times to keep our residents engaged and active. Our amazing culinary experience became our amazing room service experience. Our family gatherings took on new looks in our visitor verandas outside our communities. In the midst of the pandemic, which will linger with all of us forever, our dedicated associates were also able to OPEN 10, yes 10, new communities. Our teams focused on never stopping being solutions for seniors and their families. People absolutely needed our services, and we were there for them in markets all over the country.

ISL opened a new community in Colorado that has quickly become the area’s new standard in senior living.
In its first 30 days of operating, it moved residents into 30 units – exceeding its first 30 days’ budget by more than 10 units. The community also reached 50 percent occupancy in less than 90 days of operating, and more than 90 percent occupancy in less than eight months of operating.

The community had nine straight months of occupancy above 90 percent and 12 straight months of positive net operating income. ISL assisted in securing the land and location after an in-depth market study and market penetration, and has managed the entire community process since before the groundbreaking.

The executive director credits the atmosphere the team has worked so hard to create for the community’s success. “The culture we’ve developed is one of the main reasons we’re the premier community we are. We make sure we are tailoring what we do with each individual resident, always operating by the principles of our 12 culture-keepers.” “There’s a reason that we’re rated so highly as an assisted living community in our area,” the executive director continued. “We’re just different in how we approach our residents, associates, family members and the community at-large.”

The community has maintained high occupancy since it achieved occupancy above 90 percent. ISL launched Phase II of the community, which broke ground in early 2018.

ISL opened a new, custom-built senior living community in East Tennessee that has been nothing but successful since opening its doors. ISL assisted in securing the land and exact location after an in-depth market study and market penetration, and has managed the entire community process since before the groundbreaking.

In the first 30 days after opening, the community exceeded its initial goal in occupancy by more than 25 units, achieving 50 percent occupancy in less than 90 days of operating and more than 90 percent occupancy in less than eight months of operating.

Driving the community’s success has been the quality leadership team that ISL assembled. The great work done by this group led ISL to promote the community’s executive director to ISL senior executive director.It also led ISL to promote the community’s director of Sales and Marketing to ISL senior director of Sales and Marketing and then a short while later to ISL regional director of Sales and Marketing.

As with all ISL communities, the culture created by the associates is one of the main reasons for success.“From the leadership down to the community associates, our culture means everything,” said the community’s executive director. “Our residents respond to our inclusive atmosphere, and their families tell us it just feels different from other senior living communities they’ve been to. It’s immediately evident when they walk in here that we truly possess love, kindness and compassion for what we do.”

The success of the community is also a reflection of the hard work and passion of its associates. “The intangibles are felt by families and guests. This is an emotional experience for many people, so you have to make sure you’re making everyone feel comfortable.”

A purpose-built property located in the Inland Empire of Southern California had consistently experienced lackluster results for more than three years under management by one the largest senior living companies in the country. The property averaged 65% occupancy and disappointing results. The owners needed relief from low financial returns.

The owners brought ISL in as the operations management company. ISL quickly identified an unmotivated team. They did not believe in their product and lacked marketing focus. They believed that their property was located on the “wrong side of the tracks” and would never be successful. Turnaround was initiated by infusing the team with confidence and passion for their product and service to residents.

With a marketing focus, the team consistently achieved above 95% occupancy. That focus also identified opportunity to convert one wing of the property to memory care, which closed the back door to residents seeking higher levels of care.

The Inland Empire area was heavily hit by the recession. The community has experienced a much softer market. However, flexibility for expanding the memory care wing due to demand in the market, creative marketing strategies and a dynamic approach in operations, the community has continued to sustain success.

Today the property consistently averages $100,000 net operating income each month. Applying an 8-cap, the property value has increased from $3.5 million in 2003 to $11.6 million.

A 156-unit assisted living and memory care community was transitioned to ISL management by a group that had just closed on the acquisition.  Upon taking over management, opportunities for change were quickly identified and action plans were launched.  We identified and implemented changes that were needed to position the community for long term success.   The quality improvements were vast and included new community leadership, expense management, census development, associate morale and training, resident care assessments, policies and procedures.  The community was re-branded and went through a major re-model which was completed in the middle of the following year.

ISL successfully repositioned the community from its very negative reputation in the broader community and during our management grew census to 96.2 % occupancy from 80.8% the previous year.  With the ISL systems implemented and dedicated support by each discipline of the ISL regional team, in less than 2 years the community was sold for $60 million at a sub 5 cap rate.

A large, mostly Independent Living community in Northern California had been open for approximately 18 months and was 29% occupied and operating at a negative NOI margin.  The owners needed relief and decided to bring in Integral Senior Living (ISL) as the operations management company.

There was not a single move-in for about six months prior to our management.  As a result, before engaging ISL, the Owner had decided that a move-in motivator would be to offer life time rate locks to prospective residents.  We were able to stop this practice soon after taking over management, effectively demonstrating to the Owner the negative, long term implications to revenue, while implementing sales and marketing methods that were more effective in driving traffic and move-in activity, as well as increasing revenue/unit.

In addition to being a large community in a small market, the community opened offering only independent living and memory care services.  We quickly identified an opportunity to add assisted living services to drive more traffic and move in’s, as well as retain IL residents when their care needs required a move to assisted living.

The final piece was to get the right leadership team in place to effectively lead the charge with the changes in a cohesive and effective manner.   Under ISL guidance, the team has evolved into a strong unit that is reflected in the higher quality of services to the residents and greatly improved revenue and expense management.

After one year under ISL management, census had increased by 43 units (a 60% incremental increase)  and the community reported a 27% NOI margin.  By year end 2014, census had increased to a total of 232 units at 99% occupied with a NOI margin of 50%.

Today the property delivers over $500,000 net operating income each month.