Northbridge Widens New England Senior Living Footprint With 4-community Acquisition

Northbridge Communities is executing on its growth plans and solidifying its presence in the New England region through the acquisition of four communities in Maine and Connecticut.

The announced acquisitions also marks a return to Connecticut for the company, according to Wendy Nowokunski, president and co-founder of Northbridge Communities. Combined, the acquisitions add an additional 339 units of assisted living and memory care to the company’s portfolio. The company now has 22 communities in its portfolio.

Jim Coughlin, Northbridge Communities CEO, told Senior Housing News the company previously had a community it owned and operated in Connecticut that was purchased mid-Covid pandemic and sold to an institutional buyer once it was stabilized.

“We’ve worked in this region for over 30 years,” Nowokunski told Senior Housing News. “We are huge believers that this is a very local business, and therefore we made a commitment to ourselves that we were not going to expand outside of the New England region.”

Northbridge is bringing its signature programming to the new communities to “take them to the next level,” such as its “Eat Fresh, Eat Local” culinary program and specialty memory care programming and training, Nowokunksi said.

Northbridge will in the meantime focus on additional acquisitions, including affordable communities. The company is in the early stages of development for a memory care building in Milton, Massachusetts, following a three-and-a-half year permitting process in a collaborative effort with the Beth Israel Lahey Health Care network.

While development has slowed across the senior living industry with challenges related to the cost and availability, Nowokunski said she hopes the pendulum will swing the other way within the next three years as the baby boomers move in.

“Right now, there’s acquisition opportunities because you can buy assets for less than you can build, but that will change,” Nowokunski said. “From our perspective, we will probably continue our growth plans as we have, which is … pretty much 60% development, 40% acquisition.”

Over the following year, Northbridge has built up a “candidate pipeline” of new opportunities, with Nowokunski noting the applicant pool has doubled if not tripled in size and retention has improved through revamped training programs for certifying nursing aids, stronger orientation for new hires and hiring for passion rather than senior living knowledge and skill.

The approach has “really benefited” Northbridge and resulted in “a huge uptake in applicants and retention,” Nowokunski said.

Looking forward, Northbridge will continue to evaluate opportunities within the region, with Coughlin noting Connecticut is a state that is always being assessed.

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