John Robert Weiss

GenCare at Point Ruston, a new community in Tacoma, Washington operated by GenCare Lifestyle, received its first move-ins on March 2, nearly six weeks after Washington state reported the first U.S. coronavirus case.

When the doors opened, GenCare at Point Ruston had move-in commitments from 47 seniors. By the time Governor Jay Inslee announced a statewide shelter in place order on March 23, only 15 new residents were settled inside, GenCare founder and CEO Leon Grundstein told Senior Housing News.

There have been no new move-ins since. Even though the latest models from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation show new cases beginning to trend downward, Grundstein is unsure when more new move-ins will arrive.

New senior housing communities that opened just prior to the industry disruption wrought by the coronavirus pandemic are contending with partially empty buildings, residents in lockdown, increased spending on supplies and elongated lease timetables. [...]

The impact of the coronavirus on occupancy and leaseups will become clearer in the months to come, attorney John Robert Weiss, a corporate partner at Duane Morris, told SHN. Based in Chicago, his practice centers on bankruptcy and financial restructuring.

“Statistics are slow in coming and are widely varied, but this has happened so fast that most facilities haven’t yet experienced a dramatically negative effect. The true impact won’t be felt for a few months yet, and will depend on how quickly we get back to more normal travel and interaction. It’s hard to imagine that there won’t be at least a moderately negative effect on lease-ups and move-ins,” he said.

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