BlackSwan Zine

The Fort Worth-based senior living company The Covenant Group $5paid.7 million for the Aberdeen Heights assisted-living center in Tulsa. That marks a 37-percent plunge from the $9.05 million Sunwest Management of Salem, Ore., shelled out for the 84,650-square-foot facility

in April 2007, one of many Sunwest bought in the Sooner State during a decade of rapid national expansion. That is just unbelievable, said Diane Hambric, whose Tulsa firm Gold Medallion built Aberdeen and sold it to Sunwest.

I was very fortunate I sold when the market was high. The Covenant Group has developed and operated senior living facilities since 1990. Primarily settled in the Lone Star State, the nonprofit’s Web site lists 34 or more properties existing, under construction or undergoing renovation in Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Mississippi and Ohio. This deal marks Covenant’s re-entry to Oklahoma,said Penny Ridenour, executive director of the Oklahoma Assisted Living Association. Covenant had departed about five years earlier. Hambric, president of Gold Medallion, recalled working with Covenant executives through the association. It is run by really honorable, reputable people, she said of Covenant. They helped us often with leadership of the association. Tulsa County Courthouse records show Covenant, as TCG Tulsa AL LLC, paid $67.92 per square foot for the 11-year-old Aberdeen Heights, 7220 S. Yale Ave. Court records list Tulsa Senior Living LLC receiver C. David Rhoades as the seller. The three-acre complex features 82 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments. Aberdeen Executive Director Anita Blacknick said Covenant had already started extensive work on the facility and operations, but would not provide details. Company management could not be reached for comment. Ridenour expected Covenant to start by establishing its central management structure. They have a proven track record, she said. They have a lot ofexpertise in the senior living field. Covenant could face quite a challenge picking up the pieces from Sunwest. At its 2007 height, the Oregon firm managed more than $2 billion in assets scattered across 300 properties in 34 states. That unraveled over the next year, leadingto a December bankruptcy filing and March fraud claims against Sunwest by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Although she called the price Covenant paid quite a bargain, Hambric said she would nothave bought Aberdeen back. They bought it from me and drove it intothe ground, she said of Sunwest. Ridenour said facility decay was asymptom of the problems at Sunwest, which some analysts have suggested grew beyond its management capabilities. They did not join trade organizations, participate in regulatory discussions, said Ridenour. Their handling of Aberdeen remains a sore spot for Hambric. I helped with all the designs of Aberdeen Heights, she said, recalling how her father, Joe Hamra, built the complex, then turned it over to her to open. Every inch was my blood, sweat and tears.

by Kirby Lee Davis for Journal Record

[allbusiness.com]