Diversified Healthcare Trust Finishes Transitioning 116 Alerislife Communities To Other Operators 

Diversified Healthcare Trust (Nasdaq: DHC) has completed transitioning 116 communities formerly managed by AlerisLife to other operators.

The company outlined the transition plan in October 2025 and completed moving the communities to seven other operators by the end of 2025, with the majority of the portfolio going to Discovery Senior Living, Sinceri Senior Living and Tutera Senior Living. All but one of the transition agreements are under a REIT Investment Diversification and Empowerment Act (RIDEA) format.

Diversified’s management selected operators based on a number of factors, including regional density, track record with operating performance, technology and financial reporting capabilities and quality operational performance.

Now, Diversified Healthcare Trust has no debt maturities until 2028, President and CEO Chris Bilotto said in a business update.

“Looking back over the past year, we are pleased to have successfully executed on our stated strategies, including capital recycling initiatives and balance sheet optimization, in addition to portfolio enhancements with operator transitions across our senior housing operating portfolio,” Bilotto said in the press release. “We believe that this provides a multi-year runway to focus on driving operational performance and pursuing disciplined capital allocation, while continuing to drive long-term value for shareholders.”

Alongside the transition announcement, Diversified Healthcare Trust sold 37 properties in the fourth quarter of 2025 for $250 million. Including those properties, throughout 2025 the REIT sold a total of 69 properties for gross proceeds of approximately $605 million, and is under agreement to sell an additional 13 senior housing communities in the first quarter of 2026 for expected gross proceeds of $26 million.

Diversified Healthcare Trust first transitioned 108 senior living communities to other operators in 2021, the same year the operator rebranded from Five Star to its AlerisLife name. The following year, a firm controlled by RMR Group CEO Adam Portnoy acquired AlerisLife for about $43.8 million and took the company private. Last September, Diversified announced that AlerisLife was winding down its business entirely.

In an interview with Senior Housing News last year, Bilotto said the transitions allow Diversified to “move to offense.” The move comes from a limited debt maturities until 2028, and changing operators for the portfolio will drive margin and occupancy growth.

“When you look at this portfolio, before the transition, we’ve done a lot of work over the past several years investing in communities,” Bilotto said. “We’ve done a lot of work that has grown performance.”

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