May 14, 2024
It’s the beginning of an exciting new era for Cedar Sinai Park! As many of you know, we have been actively working to build a future path to sustainability for Cedar Sinai Park. After nearly a year of effort by our board and the executive leadership team, along with input from national experts and the Jewish community, we are pleased to share that we are in the process of selling our health care operations on the Boundary Street campus to Yudi Schmukler and the Cascade Capital Group.
We considered multiple options when it came to the new ownership and conducted extensive due diligence on the finalists. Yudi and Cascade Capital Group rose to the top, due to their deep expertise in senior health care management, their demonstrated quality of care, and their alignment with our Jewish culture, values, and traditions.
This sale will mean that Cedar Sinai Park will continue as a place of care for our current and future elders. It will also enable us to significantly expand the role and reach of our Cedar Sinai Park Foundation in serving our community’s Jewish elders, wherever they live in the Portland area—fulfilling The Home’s mission and the dream of our founders for generations to come.
This is a historic moment for Cedar Sinai Park, and we can say with confidence that this is a very good opportunity for The Home.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why is Cedar Sinai Park being sold?
A: Across the nation, single-site, faith-based, not-for-profit elder care communities are significantly challenged, and this is true of Cedar Sinai Park, as well. Our priority is continued care for the elders of our community, and this acquisition by Yudi and the Cascade Capital Group provides a sustainable path forward, and maintains the high-quality services our elders rely on.
Our current financial model is not sustainable due to an unprecedented national staffing shortage, an increasingly regulated environment, and a changing senior services market.
Q: Were all other options explored?
A: For over a year, the Cedar Sinai Park board, together with outside experts, explored all options to make the nonprofit organization sustainable. Ultimately, it was determined that this sale is the best path forward. The amount of due diligence done by the board to get to this decision was unparalleled.
During their exhaustive search for a path to sustainability, the board examined more than 15 different financial models, including repositioning and resizing services, affiliating with another provider, and selling the Boundary Street Campus, with any proceeds directed to the Cedar Sinai Park Foundation. The latter foundational model was deemed best both for Cedar Sinai Park and for expanding the foundation’s impact in our Jewish community.
Q: Who will be our new owner?
A: This acquisition will be a joint venture between Cascade Capital Group and Yudi Schmukler, who will oversee the ownership and management of Cedar Sinai Park.
Yudi Schmukler has extensive senior health care management experience spanning more than two decades, and a passion for enhancing the quality of life for residents in his care. He currently oversees the management of four facilities: Grand Park Convalescent Hospital (Los Angeles); South Pasadena Care Center (South Pasadena, Calif.); Granada Post Acute (South Pasadena, Calif.); and Vancouver Specialty and Rehab (Vancouver, Wash.).
Cascade Capital Group is an independent, privately held health care real estate investment and management company specializing in skilled nursing, rehabilitation, post-acute and transitional care facilities. Cascade was co-founded by Chaim Rajchenbach and Menachem “Nachy” Shabat, who previously built Legacy Healthcare, one of the largest premier senior nursing facilities in the Chicago metropolitan area, South Dakota, and Iowa.
Q: Why did you choose these buyers?
A: Yudi and Cascade Capital Group were chosen because of their deep expertise in senior health care management, their demonstrated quality of care, and their alignment with our Jewish culture, values, and traditions. We couldn’t be happier with them, and they are equally as passionate about us.
Q: When will this sale be finalized?
A: The purchase and sale process can take anywhere from 90 to 180 days. We anticipate the sale to be finalized by August 2024.
Q: Will the current level of care be maintained?
A: We selected Yudi and Cascade Capital Group in part due to their excellent care and standards, which we saw in practice for ourselves when we visited several of their communities in Washington state, California, and Illinois. We expect that our staff and care will be the same high quality that our residents receive today.
Q: Will I have to move?
A: This sale to Yudi Schmukler and Cascade Capital will mean that The Home will continue as a place of living and care for our current and future residents. Period. You will have a home here for as long as you want to live here. We have the greatest faith in Yudi and Cascade Capital Group—both in their commitment to Cedar Sinai Park, and their upholding of the same quality of care.
Q: Will prices increase?
A: After the sale is final, any future price increases will be determined by Yudi and the Cascade Capital Group.
Q: Will the staff stay the same?
A: We don’t anticipate any significant staffing changes, and we hope every staff member will want to stay on here at Cedar Sinai Park.
Q: Is the new ownership Jewish, and will we continue our Jewish values and traditions at The Home?
A: Maintaining Jewish culture, values, and traditions was a top priority for us as we looked at potential buyers. As Jewish owners, Yudi and Cascade Capital have indicated they will carry forward the mission that our forebears set out for us a century ago. We expect that our new owners will quickly embed themselves in our Jewish community.
Q: Who will be in charge now?
A: Until the purchase and sale agreement is signed later this summer, the current leadership will remain in place.
Q: What is happening with the Cedar Sinai Park Foundation?
A: Now more than ever, we need a local foundation that will support Jewish elders wherever they call home in the Portland area. Any net proceeds from the sale of the Boundary Street campus will be directed to our Foundation, allowing us to expand the reach of the foundation beyond the walls of our campus to serve even more of our Jewish elders.
The foundation’s expanded mission will be to enhance the lives of Jewish seniors in our community, wherever they live. The foundation will continue to develop its roadmap in the months to come.
The Cedar Sinai Park Foundation began in 2003 to manage an endowment supporting the activities of the Robison Jewish Home at its Cedar Sinai Park campus, and this support will continue, alongside the foundation’s new, expanded reach to Jewish elders outside of Cedar Sinai Park.
Have more questions? Email pathtosustainability@cedarsinaipark.org
