Seniors Housing Business is the magazine that helps you navigate the evolution of the seniors housing industry.
Issue link: https://seniorshousingbusiness.epubxp.com/i/799407
www.seniorshousingbusiness.com 63 February/March 2017 n Seniors Housing Business CAN YOUR DO THIS? BROKER 5 -YEAR LOAN $93 , 000 , 000 SENIOR & MEZZANINE ACQUISITION FINANCING Skilled Nursing Portfolio 7 Facilities AMERICA'S MOST ACTIVE DEBT BROKER MeridianCapital.com Ari Adlerstein | Managing Director 212.612.0174 | aadlerstein@meridiancapital.com Ari Dobkin | Managing Director 212.612.0165 | adobkin@meridiancapital.com look at traditional development, you're most likely talking about a significant capital outlay. More importantly, in many cases, that may be a three-phase development over five years. With acquisition and affiliation, within a six-month period you can really bring a com- munity to fruition. Even though the last few years have been more affiliations, we had the opportunity recently to purchase a 47-acre tract next to one of our existing communities in Charlotte. The family that owned the property moved into the com- munity and made that land avail- able to us. We're now in the pro- cess of developing that property as an expansion of the existing community. Really, we're open to both expe- riences. It usually comes down to timing. Affiliation gives you some flexibility — financially and opera- tionally — that ground-up devel- opment doesn't. SHB: The corporate leaders at Acts have all been with the com- pany a long time, several for decades, and many have climbed the corporate ladder at the orga- nization. Two members of the senior management team even started as waiters. What is it about Acts that keeps people at the company for so long? Vanderbeck: We have a senior management group made up of 20 individuals, and if you document their service to Acts, it totals over 400 years. It's a mind-boggling number. I think it's the result of the Acts culture of loving-kindness that exists here, and the really posi- tive relationships between the employees, residents, our board and our management. It's a very good environment from that standpoint. It's like a church. People have a calling. It's not just a job. It's not a short-term stepping stone toward something else. So much of busi- ness now is like being a free agent. You interview people, you hire people, and they jump all over the place. The reality is we have the long-term commitment of people. One of the steps we took recently was adding nurse prac- titioners at all our communities. Some were part of Acts, but some were new hires from the outside. Recently I was leading a discus- sion at a company meeting. There were about 150 people in the room. To make a point I said, "If you are not in the same position you were hired for, stand up." Basically the whole room stood up. Everybody's been promoted. You look at the senior manage- ment group — 17 of 19 have been promoted at least once. You'll see many of the people in that group that got into responsible senior roles young in life. You don't have to wait on age for opportunities. They'll come to you. SHB: What's something that folks in the industry might be surprised to find out about you? Vanderbeck: They're probably not going to be surprised that I played basketball. I'm 6'9" and played at Bloomsburg Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, a Division II school in Central Pennsylvania. I've been involved with LeadingAge since 1977, so people know me pretty well. Most people who know me know about the faith history, the preacher's kid, the com- mitment to the organization. I guess the three most surpris- ing things would be that I'm a can- cer survivor of over 30 years, and I'm a cruise-planning expert. I've taken 15 cruises with my family and planned over 20 for friends. And I'm a fine art collector. n