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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
| CONTACT: |
Scott McCaskey or Audrey
Knoth at 757-625-2518 |
LOTS & BLOCKS;
PURCHASES MAKE ASSISTED LIVING FIRM REGION'S BIGGEST
November 9, 2003 —Benchmark
Assisted Living of Wellesley Hills recently acquired four more
Massachusetts properties, bringing to 35 the number of assisted living
locations the growing company owns or manages.
That's 2,600 residents, making it the largest operator in New England
and New York.
When Benchmark bought those four - two in Newton, one in Brighton, and
one in North Andover - its chairman and chief executive, Thomas H.
Grape, was buying back facilities he had owned in the mid-1990s, when he
ran A.D.S. Senior Housing.
The stories of A.D.S. Senior Housing and Benchmark, which Grape started
in 1997, are the stories of a growing industry for housing somewhere
between independent living and nursing homes. Assisted living, where
older people have help as needed, but not constant care, has been around
for only about 10 years in Massachusetts.
In the early 1990s, there was nothing to buy, so Grape started building.
The development splurge ended in about 1999, and since then it's been
about buying and consolidation.
Benchmark has grown from four properties and 275 living units in 1998 to
35 properties and almost 2,600 units today. Investor partners in the
company include AEW Capital Management LP and Charlesbank Capital
Partners LLC, in addition to other outside owners and senior management.
Grape also was twice chairman of the Massachusetts chapter of the
Assisted Living Federation of America, and today is chairman of the
national organization, which represents 6,000 properties.
Opportunities lie in an aging population. "The long-term demand is going
to continue to grow," Grape said. So will consolidation. Benchmark is a
large player in an industry where two-thirds of the operators are small,
with five or fewer properties.
Even being the largest in the seven states, Benchmark has only a 2.5
percent market share.
Expanding an assisted-living-residence company isn't like growing a
fast-food chain, Grape said. It is employee-heavy, or, as he puts it,
"We're a 'high-touch' business." He attributes the rapid growth of
Benchmark to knowing the region, and sticking to it. Asked whether he
has any ambitions in California, Grape said: "Nope."
Benchmark oversees care in properties worth $275 million, about $225
million of which it owns. It has $100 million in annual revenues.
The company can
be found on the Internet at
www.benchmarkquality.com.
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