Sonida Nearing $1.8B Deal to Buy Senior Housing Rival

Sonida Senior Living navigated the lows of the pandemic and is ready to level up.

The Dallas-based senior housing operator is in advanced talks to acquire CNL Healthcare Properties in a $1.8 billion stock-and-cash deal that would catapult it into the ranks of the country’s largest players in the sector, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The acquisition, which could be announced within days, would make Sonida the eighth-largest senior housing company in the United States with roughly 14,000 units across 153 independent living, assisted living and memory-care communities.

Sonida’s history mirrors the difficulties of senior housing’s recent roller coaster. Formerly Capital Senior Living, the company nearly collapsed early in the pandemic, weighed down by debt and falling revenue.

A $154.8 million lifeline from Conversant Capital stabilized its balance sheet and paved the way for a rebound. Conversant has since poured in another $100 million, and would invest an additional $100 million as part of the CNL acquisition, taking about a 30 percent stake in the combined firm.

CNL Healthcare, a nontraded REIT launched by CNL Securities more than a decade ago, owns roughly 70 senior housing and healthcare properties totaling nearly 8,000 units in 26 states.

Shareholders would receive $6.90 in cash and stock per share, well below the real estate investment trust’s original $10 offering price in 2011, though investors have collected dividends and special distributions since.

The deal marks the largest senior housing transaction since 2021 and underscores how the once-battered sector has rebounded after years of pandemic-driven distress. Occupancy rates plunged and development halted as COVID-19 gutted demand, labor costs spiked and inflation pushed margins to the brink. But the tide has turned.

With construction at record lows and baby boomers nearing their 80s, demand for quality senior living is surging again. Rents are climbing 4 percent annually across the industry, and as much as 8 percent for higher-end operators, according to Green Street. Transaction volume hit $13 billion through the first three quarters of 2025, up 67 percent year-over-year, data from Newmark shows.

— Holden Walter-Warner