With Leaner Portfolio And New Leadership, Watermark Executes On ‘shrinking To Grow’ Strategy

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Watermark Retirement Communities is making progress on its plans to evolve and improve since naming a new CEO earlier this year.

Tucson, Arizona-based Watermark named Paul Boethel CEO in April. In a Senior Housing News interview the following month, he outlined his vision to improve the company’s operations and eventually pivot back to growth via acquisitions and new development.

In recent years, Watermark had contracted from its previous roughly 60-community mark down to 38 communities today, and Boethel said his main focus this year is stabilizing the communities the company still operates. His immediate goal: 94% average occupancy across the company’s portfolio.

With Keppel’s investment providing new fuel, Watermark has reorganized and bolstered its sales and marketing teams, doubled the size of its financial planning and analysis and asset management team and taken a SWAT-team-like approach to boosting results in communities that need improvement. Watermark also is working with referral partners like A Place for Mom to drive more move-ins.

“We created a pretty exhaustive list of all the things we wanted to accomplish over the next 12 to 24 months and we’re really focused on sales and marketing and incorporating a data-centric approach,” Boethel told SHN in an interview earlier this month.

So far, the company’s leaders say those efforts are bearing fruit.

Watermark has grown average occupancy 180 basis points in the last four months. In August, the company’s projected move-in volume is about 35% higher now than it was in July. With change underway, Boethel believes the company will reach the 94% occupancy mark some time in 2026.

Overall, the company is taking a “shrinking-to-grow” strategy to hone its focus and create more density in the “smile states” in the U.S. Sun Belt region, said Kai Hsiao, CEO of Senior Living at Keppel Capital.

“It really allows us to focus on the key areas that we want to be in,” he told SHN. “As we look to invest in senior housing and acquire communities, those are the states that we want to be in.”

‘We’ve tried to increase the tempo’

Watermark’s strategy in 2025 has revolved around using data and more visibility in operations to set and execute on goals. Among the first things that Boethel did after taking the reins was to put together a daily email recap of performance indicators like leads, tours, lead-to-tour and lead-to-move-in.

“We’ve tried to increase the tempo from thinking about things monthly to thinking about things daily,” Boethel said. “Everyone knows what they’re marching toward, and if they fall short on any one of those items, we can identify it quickly.”

Part of that process has involved bolstering the company’s workforce with senior living veteran leaders. Earlier this year, the operator announced it had hired Bob Gollias as senior vice president of sales and appointed Sheila Donahoe as chief administrative officer. Watermark also recently hired Jamison Gosselin as vice president of marketing and communications.

Boethel said the new Watermark C-suite has taken a “formulaic approach” by understanding the steps needed for each community to boost move-ins and ultimately occupancy. 

According to Hsiao, the company’s current approach “takes lessons learned from our previous platforms, like splitting sales and marketing functions and embracing [A Place for Mom].”

Although some operators have distanced themselves from using A Place for Mom – including previously Watermark, Hsiao added – these days, Watermark believes the referral company is an important partner. So far in 2025, the operator’s move-ins linked to A Place For Mom referrals are up 71% compared to 2024.

The operator also has added incremental financial planning and analysis staffers and asset managers and set new initiatives, such as the integration of systems to reduce time accessing data and creating reports, to give executive directors more time to spend with residents.

That’s allowed Watermark communities to identify and fix problems before they magnify and more quickly reap opportunities when they arise.

“We really focused on creating the playbook around what our sales people in the field are doing and training them appropriately for that,” Boethel said.

Watermark sales teams now have a new target to respond to inbound leads within 15 minutes of contact..

“We’ve already been experimenting with some different options internally, and we’ve seen a good number of our communities that have been able to get under that 15 minutes,” Boethel said.

The company also is piloting using a third-party inbound call center to respond to prospects within that time. That approach is rooted in lessons learned at Holiday Retirement, which pioneered the use of third-party call centers, said Hsiao, who previously worked as CEO of Holiday.

“The best practices from other industries could be applied here,” he said. “We’re taking that mindset here at Watermark, as well.”

A cornerstone of Watermark’s efforts to attract a new generation of residents is 360Well, a wellness program that encompasses four domains: mind, body, spirit and community. Program coordinators welcome newcomers into the community and help residents adapt services like personal training and activities to their wants and needs, among other duties.

Historically, Watermark has charged for care by embedding it in rental rates, but that approach set a cost floor that was too high for some prospects.

“We are revisiting that pricing structure and how we present our product within the marketplace – not reducing rates, but reconfiguring how that goes out to the new prospect,” Boethel said.

Specific offerings in the 360Well program can vary by property, but the program is accessible at all Watermark communities. Watermark also plans to add more customized health and wellness offerings in the coming year.

While Watermark is only months into its new strategy, the operator has already grown census in at least one newly opened property, The Watermark at Marco Island in Marco Island, Florida, where occupancy is over 60% since opening just this March.

‘Shrinking to grow’

Now down to 38 communities following some transitions earlier this year, Watermark is “shrinking to grow.” By that, Boethel means the company is seeking to only devote attention to regions where the company seeks to grow in the smile states.

Watermark’s new, leaner form is “actually a great size for us to kind of retool some of the foundational components. It’s very manageable from a change implementation standpoint,” he added.

The company has its eye on independent living, assisted living and memory care communities with between 100 and 150 units. Hsiao also noted that Keppel is “looking to build” in the future given Watermark’s past history of ground-up development.

“Our goal is to earn the trust of the various ownership groups, that is our primary objective,” Boethel said. “As we continue to roll out improvements and invest in systems, we aim to not only help our partners grow their asset base, but also support others in achieving their investment goals through individual acquisitions.”

Plans for new development stem from the industry’s demographic and demand opportunities, but at the same time, today it’s a challenge for operators to “sustain themselves without new development in mind,” Hsiao said. That’s where he sees Keppel coming in.

“I do think there’s good, positive momentum,” Boethel said. “I think the differentiator on long-term sustainability and success is going to be those that, while they are taking advantage of the positive momentum, they’re also investing in the systems and infrastructure.”

While some operators have failed through “cookie-cutter” standardized approaches, there’s pressure in a new form on senior living providers that have a kaleidoscope of communities with different unit mixes and property types.

Hsiao believes the industry’s quest for scale begs the question “how big can you get before you get bad?” To that end, Watermark is seeking to build a portfolio with more consistent footprints and offerings.

“That makes things more manageable and more efficient,” he said.

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