Despite an extensive history in the senior housing industry, Bill Kaplan believes there is more to learn.

After 21 years of developing senior housing across the country, Bill Kaplan, CEO, president, chairman, and founder of Senior Lifestyle Corporation, believes he has finally found his niche. For the past 14 years, he has focused on affordable senior housing markets as well as the high-end communities that are the root of his business. Four years ago, he began focusing on the middle-income senior-housing market. As a result, his company has tripled in size.

Bill Kaplan, CEO, President, Chairman, and Founder

“We developed our first Autumn Green community in 2006, and this year we opened up our second one,” Kaplan explained. “We’re now preparing to break ground on our third Autumn Green.”

Addressing a need
Chicago-based Senior Lifestyle Corporation operates close to 60 independent and assisted living communities throughout 12 states, including Colorado, New Jersey, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Texas, and Arizona. Although the majority of these communities are geared toward high-end customers, Kaplan said the middle and affordable markets have the most growth potential.

“Many people can’t afford the higher-end properties,” he said. “I want to address the needs of the blue-collar demographic—people who worked hard their entire lives, have some savings, and need this type of product but don’t think they can afford it.”

Depending on the price point of the communities and what their budgets can accommodate, residents are provided amenities such as social activities, dining stipends, housecleaning services, and transportation. The Autumn Green communities are between $800 and $1,000 a month less than the expensive packages.

The company’s Senior Suites communities, geared to the lower income demographic, have also contributed to the company’s rapid growth. Seventeen of these communities are open and operating, one more is under construction, and two more are about to break ground. The most expensive Senior Suite is only $800 a month, and each community houses between 86 and 100 units. These communities are the result of a collaborative initiative between Kaplan and the city of Chicago 15 years ago.

“The mayor came to me because he wanted to deliver affordable senior housing to the market,” said Kaplan. “Chicago is made up of 50 communities or wards, and the mayor felt his senior population, which at the time consisted of 450,000 people, wanted to stay in the wards they had lived in their entire lives.”

Since starting the Senior Suites initiative, 17 communities have been built, and three more are about to be built in 20 wards across the city. This year, Kaplan worked with the state of Illinois and is opening Senior Suites communities in the suburbs of Chicago. One location, located in Joliet, Illinois, is a reconstructed YMCA.

“I realized if the need was in the city it was also in the suburbs,” Kaplan said. “We looked for opportunities and identified some suburban markets where we could develop this concept. The demand exists because it’s driven by economics as opposed to need. People need it because they want these added services as they age, but when it’s affordable they do it a little sooner.”

Managing growth
In March, Kaplan and his management team decided to go back to the company’s roots in the high-end senior-housing market. In April of this year, the company will have closed on 13 acquired properties geared to the more affluent populations. The company’s rapid growth of the past three years spurred Kaplan to bring its technological capabilities inhouse.

“We had outsourced our IT department, but I didn’t feel it was focused on handling the kind of growth I projected,” he said. “We brought in our own IT people to upgrade our systems, and with our new training staff, they developed software to assess residents as they age in place, resulting in higher acuity, providing staff with a better understanding how to handle any potential
resident situations.”

Kaplan hired people to assist with staff training on all levels, from HR issues to accounting backlogs. Twice a year, two people from the training team go into each community, with the help of a regional manager, and discuss any employee issues and train on new company-wide quality-control initiatives.

“We hold regional training programs on a quarterly basis and community training to improve customer service,” said Kaplan. “Issues relating to personal satisfaction, healthcare, licensing, and any local issues are addressed.”

The company also distributes an employee satisfaction survey once a year, polling each of its 2,800 employees on how they feel about the direction of company and their own jobs. “Although we have an extensive history in this industry, we are still a business in progress. We are always in training mode,” said Kaplan. “We have an unusual culture because I run the business as though we’re all one big happy family, but I never lose sight of the business aspect of it.”