Birmingham, Michigan (May 20, 2021) - Kandu Capital, LLC and its operating company, Bloom Senior Living, announced today that it divested two South Carolina Assisted Living communities, Bloom at Hilton Head and Bloom at Bluffton, to focus exclusively on their premiere Independent Living, Independent Living Plus and Memory Care community, Bloom at Belfair, in Bluffton, South Carolina. 

Inspired after the Bloom owners experienced the challenge of finding the right home for their grandmother when she needed senior care, they acquired Bloom at Belfair (f/k/a Riverside at Belfair) in January 2010. The transaction was significant for the family-owned company since it would: (1) become the first community under the new Bloom Senior Living brand focused on seniors housing instead of the family’s 50-year legacy skilled nursing and mental health business, (2) serve as a model to carry out Bloom’s aspirational mission of creating an environment where residents don’t just live and feel safe -- they bloom, (3) provide Bloom with the opportunity to build, and subsequently programmatically develop, a state-of-the-art Memory Care program with the owners’ grandmother in mind, and (4) allow Bloom to participate in the anticipated fast growing Bluffton market. Accordingly, Bloom at Belfair has been, and will continue to be, an instrumental component of Bloom’s portfolio.

Specifically, since acquiring Bloom at Belfair more than one decade ago, Bloom: (1) turned the community into a continuum of care campus adding Independent Living Plus to complement the Independent Living program, as well as, a two phase, state-of-the art Memory Care program (making it the most innovative and largest Alzheimer’s and dementia program in South Carolina), (2) recruited a nationally recognized management team sharing Bloom's high standards, values and passion, (3) rebranded and reprogrammed operations to be consistent with Bloom's brand and culture, (4) incorporated Bloom's Five Star Customer Service Experience, Five Star Dining Program and signature Life Enrichment Program, and those hundreds of personal touches that make its family communities so special, (5) committed significant resources designed to enhance the residents’ lives and make the Bloom community an even better home, (6) achieved high resident and family satisfaction, (7) implemented an affordable, fixed-rate and all-inclusive pricing structure that’s simple and predictable while maintaining quality of care and service (due to Bloom’s unique family structure), (8) beat a global pandemic by keeping the residents physically safe and emotionally blooming, and (9) expanded Bloom at Belfair’s innovative Memory Care program to its other Bloom communities throughout the nation.  

Thus, Bloom at Belfair has been the Bloom template for offering a modern, lifestyle approach to healthcare that caters to the needs of each individual and ensures residents continue living full lives, by enjoying their favorite activities while discovering new ones, and blooming into their best selves through learning, growth and discovery. Bloom at Belfair helped define the Bloom mission, which is simple yet aspirational: to help its residents flourish.

“While Bloom at Bluffton and Bloom at Hilton Head (whose names will be changed under new ownership) are wonderful Assisted Living communities and have been a positive addition to the Bloom portfolio since we acquired them from Brookdale Senior Living in 2013, our family has decided to exclusively focus all of our innovation, energy, time and resources into making Bloom’s first community, Bloom at Belfair, the provider of choice in the Bluffton and Hilton Head market” reports Scott Kantor, Bloom’s Director of Operations.  Bloom has a well-defined plan to ensure that Bloom at Belfair continues to build upon Bloom’s stellar reputation in the Lowcountry and operate consistently with its unique family story and operating style, mission, Bloom Beliefs, culture and brand. Mr. Kantor noted "we've always worked as hard as possible -- with the residents' best interest in mind and consistent with our Bloom Beliefs -- to provide the type of care and services our Bloom families deserve. In addition to caring for our seniors, we've been through a lot together -- a global pandemic, hurricanes and other important events and milestones, so we've earned local credibility and forged personal connections with many in the market. Everyone saw how we handled (and communicated through) COVID-19, which tells a lot about how we are as a company." He added, “but more than just reputation, our company is laser focused on Belfair's Independent Living program (promoting resident independence), our Independent Living Plus program (providing additional services and a more affordable alternative to Assisted Living) and our unique care by design Memory Care program, which we developed and perfected from scratch."