THE SITE SELECTION APPROACH TO SENIOR LIVING GROWTH

Introduction: Finding New Paths to Growth

When senior living providers consider how to grow, they typically pursue one of three strategies:

• Campus Expansion – Growing within the existing footprint: “I’ll grow where I’m planted.”
• Affiliation or Merger – Aligning with others to overcome operational hurdles: “We’ll have strength in numbers.”
• Site Selection – Using data-driven tools to identify new geographic markets: “I’ll grow where I’m needed.”

Although the first two approaches are more common among nonprofit providers, site selection remains underutilized by single-site and small multi-site Life Plan Communities—largely because smaller organizations lack the resources that larger for-profit companies can afford.

The Challenge for Smaller Not-for-Profits

For single-site Life Plan Communities and small multi-site nonprofits, site selection has historically been out of reach due to:

• High costs of proprietary data
• Lack of internal staff for advanced market research
• A tendency to focus only on known territory rather than explore new markets

As a result, smaller not-for-profits tend to restrict themselves to building out their existing sites. Yet sustainable growth often requires more than just campus expansion. Most nonprofits must grow to maintain long-term sustainability; on-campus expansions alone are not sufficient.

Since Love & Company exists to support mission-driven senior living, we’ve developed a way to make site selection both accessible and actionable for mission-driven organizations of all sizes.

Unlocking Growth with Site Selection Tools

Powered by NIC MAP and Maptitude, we created proprietary tools that give smaller organizations access to the same data and data analysis capacity that the largest non-profits use in site selection. These tools blend traditional market research concepts, such as market penetration, with multi-factor analytics. These analytics provide a nuanced understanding of how smaller markets within a search area align with an organization’s growth goals.

Here are some of the benefits and features of this site selection process:

✅ Larger Search Area Scope

Defines a larger search area than typical market research, segmenting a target region into smaller sub-markets for individual analysis and comparison.

• Smaller regions may have fewer than 100 markets; larger regions could include several hundred
• Analyzes many markets at once, significantly more cost-efficient than traditional market research

✅ Multi-Product Flexibility

Can analyze multiple product types at once for considering several potential product types:

• Market rate vs. middle income
• Entrance fee vs. rental
• Larger size vs. smaller
• Satellite IL vs. active adult
• With or without continuum

✅ Tailored Market Metrics

Custom metrics and data mapping can get specific, such as measuring:

• Custom age breaks
• Custom income levels
• Custom penetration rate calculations
• Custom construction metrics

✅ Advanced Mapping and Visualization

Multi-factor mapping visualizes current and future market forces, such as:

• Current competitive pressure from competing nearby locations
• Changing demographic trends
• Local economy and labor market

Aligning Growth Goals with Market Opportunity

A successful site selection process finds the most attractive markets within a large geographic region, so your first take step should focus on defining your goals, strategic plan and operating constraints. Only when these are clearly defined can you align with the underserved markets in your region.

✅ Take Time to Listen to All Stakeholders

Bring your stakeholders together for discovery and collaboration multiple times to help refine your organization’s goals. Make sure all voices are heard.

✅ Allow Your Plans to Evolve

Your plans will likely evolve as you work through data, mapping views and guided discussion about which metrics you consider most important, such as:

• Search area shape and size: Such as omitting certain larger cities or sparsely populated areas, depending on goals and mission
• Project size: Rentals tend to be smaller, while Life Plan Communities tend to be larger
• Market parameters: Depending on product and contract type, major metrics for analysis vary based on demographics, local economy, labor, real estate and more
• Product type(s): Active adult, independent living, middle market, etc.
• Contract type(s): Rental, entrance fee

✅ Set a Goal-Driven Direction

Two organizations can view the same metrics differently. This illustrates why your organization must fully understand your goals to accurately define (or create) your metrics and their impact on a market’s overall attractiveness rating. One recent example of this is two clients’ polarizing views on the role of the labor market as a search metric.

• One organization wanted to look for areas with lower hourly wages, with the goal to control costs for a mission-focused, middle-market product
• Another organization was looking for higher wage areas to ensure it can competitively recruit from within its local market

Your Growth Plan Can Start Here

The site selection approach gives land-locked or capacity-limited organizations a new way to grow. Love & Company has made it possible for smaller senior living nonprofits to access the same data and models that larger providers use—without the same overhead.

If you’re ready to explore new markets and align your growth strategy with mission and sustainability, let’s talk.

📩 Contact:
Wayne Langley
Senior Vice President, Growth Strategies