Sonida Senior Living (NYSE: SNDA) closed a $372.5 million term loan with Ally Bank that the Dallas-based senior housing operator is using to clear out the bridge debt left over from its acquisition of CNL Healthcare Properties earlier this year, the company disclosed alongside second-quarter earnings released Aug. 10, 2026.
According to the earnings release filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the new five-year loan β which carries two one-year extension options and is priced at SOFR plus 185 basis points β is secured by 28 communities. Proceeds repaid a $122 million existing Ally term loan, retired the remaining $170 million of bridge debt from the CNL Healthcare deal, and paid down $70 million on Sonida’s revolving credit facility.
The refinancing caps the debt cleanup from Sonida’s March 11 acquisition of CNL Healthcare Properties, a roughly $1.8 billion strategic merger that expanded Sonida’s portfolio to 164 communities across 35 states. That deal had been funded in part with $270 million of bridge financing, which the company has now paid down in stages β first to $170 million in May through incremental term loan and revolving credit facility increases, and now to zero with the new Ally facility.
Sonida’s second-quarter revenue more than doubled to $207.6 million, up from $93.5 million a year earlier, reflecting the CNL Healthcare communities added to the portfolio. The company reported a net loss of $24.5 million, or $0.52 per share, while normalized funds from operations came in at $23.7 million, or $0.48 per share. Adjusted EBITDA rose 30% year over year on a pro forma basis to $50.0 million.
Operationally, same-store occupancy climbed 240 basis points year over year to 87.8%, and same-store net operating income rose 16.9% to $51.5 million. Revenue per occupied room, a key senior-housing metric, rose 4.9% to $5,372.
“Our operating foundation [is] firmly in place,” Chief Executive Brandon Ribar said in the release, pointing to “sustained strong NOI growth” alongside “disciplined pipeline development” as the company works to integrate its expanded portfolio.
Sonida also raised $27.3 million during the quarter through its at-the-market equity program, selling 671,732 shares at a weighted average price of $41.05. The company ended the quarter with $48.7 million of unrestricted cash. The release did not include forward guidance.
Revenue per occupied room, or RevPOR, measures the average monthly revenue a senior-living operator collects per filled unit, combining rent and ancillary care charges β a proxy for pricing power similar to revenue per available room in the hotel industry. Its 4.9% year-over-year increase, paired with rising occupancy rather than falling occupancy offsetting price gains, points to a market where operators are gaining pricing leverage as demand outpaces new supply.
Bridge loans like the $270 million facility Sonida used to fund the CNL Healthcare deal are typically short-term, higher-cost financing meant to get a transaction closed quickly, with the borrower expected to refinance into permanent debt once the acquired assets are stabilized and lenders can underwrite based on actual, rather than projected, performance. Sonida’s shift from bridge debt to a five-year Ally facility follows that standard playbook, and the SOFR-plus-185-basis-point pricing on the new loan reflects senior housing real estate’s improved standing with commercial lenders after several years of post-pandemic occupancy recovery.
What it means: The Ally refinancing is a balance-sheet cleanup move rather than new growth capital β it swaps expensive, short-term bridge debt for a longer-dated, lower-cost facility now that Sonida has had several months to stabilize the CNL Healthcare communities it absorbed. The double-digit same-store NOI growth suggests the integration is going reasonably well operationally, even as the net loss reflects the accounting drag typical of a company that just roughly doubled its size through acquisition. Sonida’s move follows a broader pattern in senior housing, where operators such as American Healthcare REIT have also posted strong same-store NOI gains this earnings season, as occupancy across the sector continues to recover from pandemic-era lows faster than new supply can be built.
