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Senior living demand is palpable in the tail-end of 2025 as average industry occupancy continues to rise. In 2026, the first baby boomers are turning 80, and operators are quickly growing to meet their needs.
Among the fastest growing senior living operators in 2025 were Claiborne Senior Living, The Aspenwood Company, Silverado and Stellar Senior Living, which ranked on the “fast track” of the Argentum 150 list released earlier this year
All four operators are focusing on growing at a steady pace, and have prepared their internal systems for growth
Aspenwood’s strategic growth model
Aspenwood added around 200 units despite being down one community between the 2024 and 2025 Argentum 150 lists, moving up in the rankings from the 77th largest operator in 2024 to 66th largest in 2025.
A cornerstone of the company’s growth efforts is its ability to hire workers, according to Aspenwood President Heather Tussing.
“My goal is never for us to grow at a rate where we can’t be successful, and so I want to ensure that we have the right talent in place in order to have that growth,” she told Senior Housing News.
Aspenwood promoted workers internally as part of its staffing push, including in regional footprints. Most recently, the company promoted Joshua Bentley and Samantha Rincon as vice presidents, expanding its sales leadership bench to two co-leaders, a new strategy for Aspenwood. By splitting up sales leadership into the two roles, each can focus on their portion of the portfolio with “intimate knowledge” and help grow in their respective regions, Tussing said.
The company most recently added n seven communities to its portfolio, a feat that could strain operations. But Tussing said the company’s staffing push helped it grow and maintain occupancy in the communities.
“My entire career here has been spent building the right foundation, refining our operational model, expanding our leadership structure, creating new roles, eliminating some roles and investing in recruiting and training initiatives,” Tussing said.
Aspenwood is expanding its presence in the U.S. Southeast in clusters where the operator’s leaders can help onsite as needed.
Aspenwood seeks acquisitions that meet its mid-luxury portfolio while developing urban infill projects for its luxury brand, such as its Crestmoor at Green Hills community that opened over the summer. The operator is in the scouting phase for its next location in which to grow.
“Those urban infill properties are so intricate,” Tussing said. “You’re taking about an acre of land and you’re building a $150 million asset on it. The ability to do so takes such time to find that right environment, that right location that’s going to meet the right economics.”
Looking ahead to 2026, Aspenwood is looking to further invest in new technology partnerships and offerings such as Amba Health & Care, Inspiren and the Juilliard Extension, all of which are beginning to roll out across the company.
“I always look at what we’re doing, and I’m never going to be satisfied,” Tussing said. “I’m always going to say, ‘How can we do this better?’”
Stellar capitalizes on momentum
Midvale, Utah-based Stellar Senior Living added over 800 units despite being down four communities between 2024 and 2025 and moved from the 55th largest operator in 2024 to the 44th this year. Years ago, the company set a goal to serve 10,000 people by 2030, which it has nearly achieved, according to Brianna Eisman, investor relations specialist.
The operator is growing through acquisitions and joint ventures with larger partners. The company raised $20 million in capital commitments to acquire between 10 and 15 communities in the future.
“Our momentum has been driven by a combination of strong market demand, long-standing partnerships built on trust, and a culture of excellence that our teams live out every day,” Eisman said.
The company is growing in the western region of the country with a focus on independent living, assisted living and memory care. The company also is growing in clusters so its Salt Lake City-based team members can easily access its communities and “support residents and team members in meaningful ways,” Eisman said.
At present, the operator has 44 communities over eight states, and has reached 9,700 people out of its goal.
“Our hope is that Stellar becomes the gold standard in senior living—admired for how we care for our residents and employees, how we collaborate with our partners and investors and how we serve those who put their trust in us,” Partner and Senior Vice President Adam Benton said in a statement.
Looking ahead, Stellar has an “incredibly promising” outlook ahead of it, in part due to its joint venture, and it is on the lookout for additional acquisition opportunities.
“We’re confident that 2026 will be a landmark year of growth, innovation and continued excellence for Stellar and the communities we serve,” Eisman said.
Irvine, California-based Silverado broke into Argentum 150’s top-100 this year by adding 10 communities, shifting from 103rd to 82nd in the Argentum list’s rankings. The operator is on a mission to own everything it operates, according to President and CEO Loren Shook. The company’s steady growth comes from acquiring the communities it previously had management contracts with.
“We’re not trying to be the biggest in the country, nor are we trying to grow the fastest,” Shook told SHN. “It’s just how the opportunities present and that’s what we’re focused on.”
Silverado’s growth is focused on expanding the company’s presence outside of California, with targeted acquisitions occurring in Texas and across the mid-Atlantic, where the plan is to expand its existing footprint. While Silverado has limited amounts of management contracts left to purchase, growth is also coming through development.
Silverado has two ground-up development projects underway ahead of the new year:a new-build 93-unit community in San Jose, California; and a community in Redondo Beach to replace an older building.
Silverado has built up its home-office employee team to more than 65 employees over the past 15 years to support its operations. Aiding Silverado’s staffing efforts are a centralized recruiting team and a full-time trainer.
Silverado is expecting to close on one or two additional turnaround acquisitions before the year’s end.
Silverado trains staff in dementia and Alzheimer’s for 23 hours in total and deploys its electronic health record (EHR) and pay and benefits systems when bringing a new community into its portfolio.
“Most of the time, we keep almost everybody,” Shook said. “We retain them because we’re going to build the census, so we need the core people.”
While Silverado doesn’t have a target number of communities in mind, Shook said the goal is to “change the world the way memory care services are delivered and improve the quality of life for our residents, families and each other.”
Claiborne’s three-pronged growth strategy
Hattiesburg, Missouri-based Claiborne Senior Living added five communities between the Argentum list’s release in 2024 and 2025,becoming the 93rd in 2025, which is attributed to picking up five communities as part of a third-party management deal by CEO Tim Dunne.
Claiborne is employing a three-pronged growth strategy centered on acquisitions, management contracts and new development. While development has remained slow, the operator managed to get one project out of the ground in June with a fourth quarter of 2026 anticipated opening date, and is in the process of engaging in multiple deals through letters of intent and discussing management options with two additional groups.
In total, Claiborne currently consists of just over 2,000 units with 17 assets.
What helps prepare for taking on new communities, whether it is through acquisition or management, is being purposefully scaled, Dunne said.
“We purposely have staffed ahead so that when we have new opportunities, we’re not stretching the organization,” Dunne told Senior Housing News. “That way, we have people up to speed on our culture, our processes, etc.”
To help make the process even smoother, Claiborne focused on hiring executive level roles such as a new chief operating officer and internally promoting several vice presidents in late 2024 to ensure it was ready to take on new assets and challenges.
Dunne said the company is “ultra selective” in the larger partners it works with.
“We really look for the core value alignment,” he said. “We’ve turned down a lot of deals, a lot of opportunities for third party. It may not have been a good fit, either regionally, or maybe the institutional goals weren’t the same, or wasn’t a product that we felt would fit well within our existing asset mix.”
He added: “We also are willing to co-invest. We’re willing to put our money where our mouth is and bet on ourselves to succeed.”
Future growth for Claiborne will be dedicated to the southeast where it already has an existing presence. While it is already in five states and looking to expand into neighboring states, the idea is to remain regionally exclusive to keep its communities in close proximity for staff and remain in areas it knows well. The properties it is looking to acquire or manage will also vary between value-based through near-luxury offerings, allowing for a wide range of capabilities.
Claiborne’s goal is to reach a portfolio consisting of around 40 assets to maintain the quality of its offerings and sustain its cultural efforts. In the meantime, the operator is looking to connect with additional capital partners as part of its “slow and steady” growth plan, Dunne said.
