Ltc Properties Adds Lifespark As New Shop Operating Partner With $195m Acquisition

LTC Properties (NYSE: LTC) today announced an acquisition of five communities managed by senior living operator Lifespark.

The Westlake Village, California-based real estate investment trust (REIT) acquired from Tukka Properties for $195 million five independent living, assisted living and memory care communities totaling 520 units in Wisconsin. St. Louis Park, Minnesota-based operator Lifespark operates the communities, which today average 97% occupancy.

LTC Properties is adding the properties to its growing senior housing operating portfolio (SHOP), which the REIT is seeking to double in size by the end of the year. The acquisition brings the portfolio to 1,580 units spread across five operating partners, three of which are new to the REIT. LTC has with its latest transaction closed 80% of its 2025 growth pipeline of $460 million. The company’s leaders expect they will close another $90 million by the end of the year.

LTC’s leaders said the deal reshapes the makeup of the company’s senior housing portfolio and demonstrates their commitment to growing SHOP in the months and years ahead. Outside of its new deal with Lifespark, LTC also has grown its SHOP segment this year by converting previous triple-net leases with operators like Anthem Memory Care and New Perspective into RIDEA structures.

“We are continuing to deliver on our commitment of strong external growth and portfolio diversification, while enhancing our ability to further transform our business through SHOP,” said LTC Co-CEO Clint Malin.

The acquisition marks Lifespark’s first REIT relationship, and the deal is a potential avenue for more expansion ahead, according to CEO Joel Thiesen.

“We’re just getting ready to look at other markets,” Thiesen told Senior Housing News.“So, this was a really good time for us to think about [LTC Properties] as a partner in other markets, as well as getting the REIT partnership figured out.”

Primarily focused in Wisconsin and Minnesota, the St. Louis Park, Minnesota-based operator is seeking a larger partner to gain access to communities in different markets via management contracts. However, Lifespark’s leaders haven’t yet decided the markets they want to pursue, but are “open to go anywhere, but not everywhere,” according to Thiesen.

Now that the senior living operator has joined up with LTC Properties, Lifespark’s leaders have their eye on growing in Minnesota and potentially one or two other markets, with a goal of taking on another 20 or more properties by the end of 2026. The operator currently manages 46 properties, with an average occupancy around 95%.

“They are very bullish with us as a partner because of our unique capabilities and our performance,” Thiesen said. “I think it sets us up really nicely.”

While Lifespark is open to working with other partners moving forward, the goal is to “grow deeper rather than wide.”

Leaders with Lifespark and LTC have been engaged in partnership discussions for at least six months, according to Thiesen.

Lifespark is among a growing operators that have boosted value-based care offerings in recent years to deepen and broaden services for the incoming generation of older adults. Among the offerings it has added include an urgent response team that offers x-rays, lab work, EKGs and sutures and a primary care division.

Theisen believes that senior living communities can share in the upside of clinical success and improve resident outcomes at the same time through value-based care arrangements.
“I believe we all need to think carefully about how to monetize and bring together all the assets around a person into one vehicle,” Theisen said during a recent conference earlier this month. “The goal is to serve them with the greatest compassion, empathy and value.”

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