Sunrise Senior Living, LLC

Who owns Sunrise Senior Living?

Sunrise is owned by Revera Inc., which is wholly owned by Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board. Revera acquired sole ownership in July 2023 after purchasing partner Welltower's 34 percent stake.

Is Sunrise Senior Living being acquired?

Yes. In October 2026, Sunrise announced that BDT & MSD Partners agreed to acquire a majority stake from PSP Investments. The deal, expected to close in 2027, includes investment by Sunrise's senior leadership team.

Is Sunrise Senior Living a public company?

No. Sunrise was publicly traded on the NYSE as Sunrise Assisted Living (SRZ) until 2013, when it was taken private. It remains privately held.

When was Sunrise founded?

Sunrise was founded in 1981 by Paul and Terry Klaassen, who opened the first community in Oakton, Virginia, introducing the residential luxury assisted living model to the United States.

How many communities does Sunrise operate?

Sunrise manages approximately 240 senior living communities across the United States and Canada, concentrated in affluent metropolitan markets.

What type of senior living does Sunrise provide?

Sunrise provides assisted living, memory care, and independent living, primarily in the luxury and premium private-pay segment.

Paul and Terry Klaassen founded Sunrise in 1981, opening their first community in Oakton, Virginia. Inspired by residential elder care they had observed in the Netherlands, the couple rejected the institutional nursing home model in favor of homelike Victorian-style residences offering personalized assistance, essentially creating the luxury assisted living category in America.

The concept proved highly scalable. Sunrise expanded through the 1980s and 1990s across the East Coast and nationally, standardizing a model combining residential design, individualized care plans, and hospitality services. The company went public in 1996 as Sunrise Assisted Living on the NYSE under ticker SRZ, using public capital to accelerate development and enter the UK and Canadian markets.

The aggressive growth model unraveled in the 2008 financial crisis. Carrying substantial debt and development commitments, Sunrise's stock collapsed and the company restructured through asset sales, development cutbacks, and leadership changes. Founder Paul Klaassen departed, and the company pivoted toward operating rather than owning communities.

In 2013, Sunrise was taken private in a joint venture between Canadian senior living operator Revera and healthcare REIT Welltower, with Revera holding 66 percent and Welltower 34 percent. The transaction ended 17 years of public trading and stabilized the company around a management-contract model.

Over the following decade, Sunrise rebuilt around luxury positioning and third-party management growth. Welltower sold its stake to Revera in July 2023, giving Revera's owner PSP Investments sole control. Under CEO Jack Callison, the company added more than 20 new managed communities through partnerships with developers including Griffin Living, reaching approximately 240 communities.

On October 6, 2026, Sunrise announced that funds affiliated with BDT & MSD Partners had signed a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake from PSP Investments, in partnership with Sunrise's senior leadership who will invest alongside. The deal is expected to close in 2027 subject to regulatory approvals.

Sunrise's defining crisis was its near-collapse during the 2008 financial crisis, when overleveraged development forced a restructuring that ended its public listing. That episode reshaped its model away from ownership.

As a senior living operator it faces ongoing scrutiny typical of the sector: staffing adequacy, care quality, infection control, and wrongful-death litigation at individual communities. No systemic regulatory finding against the company has resulted, but the industry remains under continuous state-level oversight.

The luxury private-pay model attracts periodic criticism that it concentrates quality care among the affluent, a structural feature of the segment rather than a company-specific finding.