Active adult operator Greystar is growing its reach into the independent living sector in a move that will broaden the company’s offerings to even more older adults.
The Charleston, South Carolina-based real estate company is launching a new third-party management business to operate independent living communities for other owners. Unlike the company’s active adult management portfolio – totaling 25,000 units in 163 communities and valued at $4 billion – its independent living communities will carry a model that includes meals, programming and some care services, according to Greystar Property Management Services Senior Managing Director Michael Levine. A team of senior living specialists will lead the independent living platform under Levine’s direction.
The company currently does not own or manage any independent living properties. In the coming months, Greystar will finalize its growth and marketing strategies for its independent living third-party management platform, Levine said.
The move into independent living represents a new foothold for Greystar, which is the largest developer and manager of active adult properties in the U.S. But it is in many ways the next step of the company’s effort to court the next generation of older adults, Levine said.
“This is an extension of where our active adult platform is now and what our next steps are,” Levine told Senior Housing News.
Greystar’s entrance into independent living comes at a time of strong occupancy growth and pricing power within the segment. Independent living reached 90% occupancy in October of last year across primary markets, according to the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC).
Earlier this month, NIC announced that independent living outperformed assisted living in overall returns, generating a total return of 11.1% compared to assisted living’s 10%, according to a recent analysis of National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) data.
These positive trends are also driven by low supply growth as construction remains at levels last seen in 2012, and demographics begin to shift, driving demand into senior living as younger older adults seek curated lifestyles and comfortable living settings.
Greystar’s move into independent living reflects a belief that tomorrow’s residents will desire “convenience, hospitality and light support,” Levine said.
Active adult to independent living
Active adult is a hot property type in 2026 among investors. Much of that has to do with the sheer number of aging baby boomers and the fact that the number of adults 80 and over is slated to grow 28% between now and 2030.
But for as much demand as Greystar has seen for active adult, the company also has seen that “there are residents today that we can’t handle at this point based on acuity,” Levine said. The launch into independent living is meant to help bridge that gap and serve even more older adults in the years to come.
“Building out this division allows us to meet the residents at their journey in life and gives a holistic picture of them being active adult and then with us in independent living,” he added.
Greystar’s operating expertise, scale and market analysis skills will help it identify opportunities for the new platform.
“We will rely on our hospitality DNA,” Levine said. “Integrating that into independent living could be a game-changer for a lot of communities.”
The average age of residents living in Greystar’s properties is currently 72 years, lower than the 74.6 average age the company’s communities carried almost two decades ago. Even so, acuity creep – the phenomenon where residents stay longer than a property can accommodate their health needs – is a real risk for active adult operators. By creating an independent living service line, Greystar is aiming to provide another step on the continuum for residents that need more support.
Greystar expects a small number of the active adult communities it manages could potentially be repositioned as independent living.
While Greystar hasn’t announced any immediate plans to target a particular market, Levine said the company is reviewing all its options Thus far the U.S. Southeast has emerged as a potential target.
“We don’t want to be all over the place–at first,” Levine said. “For the most part we’ve created a hub and spoke model with the amount of active adult that we have.”
With Greystar’s depth of student housing and multifamily properties, Levine said it is possible the company partners with ownership groups on properties that can create an “intergenerational feel,” along with the “buying power” to reposition communities.
Through partnerships with health care providers and academic institutions, Levine believes that Greystar can use its scale to create more unique experiences for residents. Those partnerships could even include travel agencies that help organize vacations for residents, Levine said.
“Having that multi-generational feel within some of our buildings, that has been aspirational for senior living companies that have not had those connections,” Levine said. “We have those partnerships to offer and the benefits of being a national platform.”
He added: “We have to partner with the right owners and we’re open-minded to look at different parts of the business.”
Culinary ‘the biggest differentiator’ in new model
Active adult communities typically have not offered food or care for residents. With the launch of independent living, Greystar is making its first foray into offering a deeper level of services for older adults, and moving from a product type based on residents’ wants to one more centered on their needs.
Greystar has two regional executives focused on resident lifestyle within its active adult properties, and Levine sees opportunities to add more lifestyle-focused staff to build out the framework of the services it will offer in independent living.
“The culinary piece is going to be the biggest differentiator for us,” Levine said. “Building out that piece of the hospitality business is going to be instrumental in being successful.”
The company is analyzing what older adults want in order to build a model of independent living activities and programming that its future residents will desire.
“We have guidelines for how to do activities but we don’t have a cookie-cutter calendar anywhere and those activities vary by community,” Levine said. “We are trying to really figure out a way to not be cookie-cutter and really figure out ways to expand right the lifestyle piece is key for our success.”
Greystar will work with the owners of the independent living communities it manages to determine the care services it will offer in them..
The company currently works with nearly 50 different ownership groups for active adult communities and “all of them have different interpretations” for what active adult looks like from a programmatic and physical plant perspective, Levine said.
Greystar partnered with Viva Bene, Avenue Development’s brand of active adult communities, on a community in St. Louis that has a preventative care model through an agreement with Sevy Health. In the future, Greystar has the potential to adapt a model like this to independent living, Levine said.
“We think this type of platform is primed for independent living,” Levine added.
Preventative care, including physical therapy and occupational therapy, is on the table for offerings at future Greystar independent living properties, but Levine cautioned that he didn’t see Greystar “going into any kind of full-care model” any time soon.
