Evolve Senior Living is continuing to grow its platform two years after the company’s initial launch, with future plans to scale and solidify operations.
The company’s growth strategy hinges on building a tech-enabled operating model, supported by a proprietary data and analytics platform, while also maintaining transparency with capital partners.
Launched in 2023, Evolve currently manages six communities, having taken on its first property in August 2024. At its current size, this allows Evolve to test out systems and new initiatives in operations, according to Co-Founder Justin Dickinson, comparing it to how a plumber checks for leaks in pipes.
“It’s a good sweet spot right now so we can test the pipes without overwhelming the system,” Dickinson said. “This lets us implement changes quickly and reinforces our strength in being agile.”
In 2025, Evolve has focused on improving staffing conditions in the communities it manages, from reducing overtime to increasing training opportunities for employees. Three of the company’s six communities are currently at or above 90% average occupancy.
“We’re really focused on managing and doing well and supporting our existing communities, building our track record with our first communities to demonstrate to the broader market the strength of our operations,” said Co-Founder Andrew Agins.
Agins said the company’s leaders seek to remain “entrepreneurial, agile and nimble” in seeking new capital and management relationships.
The co-leaders said they are interested in managing properties spanning the U.S. Mountain West to the Midwest. Evolve currently has two communities in Chicago, two in Kansas City, Missouri, and one each in Cincinnati and Denver. These communities have a “high concentration” of independent living, two of which are standalone IL properties, along with a mix of IL, assisted living and memory care.
Looking ahead, the co-leaders see Evolve growing to a platform of approximately 40 communities over the next 10 years. At present, they are focused on shorter time horizons of one or two years and building out operations gradually.
‘Setting the foundation’ to support operations
Small and growing senior living operators know launching an operating model and bringing on staff is rarely a straightforward or easy affair.
In 2024, Dickinson said Evolve was “setting the foundation” in preparation for taking on its growing number of managed communities, with capital markets producing “a lot of opportunity” for the Chicago-based operator to take advantage of.
“We certainly did not have it planned this way, but the way it worked out was very favorable,” Dickinson said. “Us coming into the industry without legacy issues or reputation issues, at a time when the market is burgeoning with opportunities, was really fortuitous.”
Evolve is targeting “mid-to-large” investment groups for future capital partnerships or acquisition opportunities, Dickinson said. To date, the company has formed relationships predominantly with private equity groups.
To further build out operations at its existing communities, Evolve is recruiting and retaining full-time positions, from caregivers and nurses to dining servers and housekeepers.
“Staffing correctly is one of the few things you can truly control, and it’s incredibly important,” Agins said. “If we continue to excel in that area, it will give us tremendous confidence when we are underwriting new opportunities.”
Given both Dickinson and Agins’ extensive background overseeing efforts spanning technology integration, lending, operations management, finalizing acquisitions and development, Evolve is in a “unique position” to attract new capital partners, Agins said.
“If you have the foundation set of a great partner and a really clear business plan that we can execute on together, I feel like the rest sort of falls into place,” Agins added.
Evolve Intelligence platform rollout continues
At the heart of Evolve’s thesis in operating communities is its data model, known as Evolve Intelligence, to maximize revenue and improve operations. The data model will go through “iterative steps” as the effort grows.
“It was crucial for us to have access, free and easy access to our data,” Agins said. “We’re able to pull all the important and relevant data that we want into a centralized hub.”
Through this “centralized hub” Agins said Evolve leaders are able to create data dashboards or visualizations on “all different parts” of the company’s operations, eliminating the “different silos” that can arise in operations. For example, the company can create daily scorecards, or “looks into the business” that allow executive directors to bring information to daily meetings and make changes as necessary based on the information.
Building out of the platform is just the “first step” in the growth of the Evolve Intelligence platform, Agins added, noting that there are plans in place to integrate artificial intelligence and predictive analytics into the data model to provide proactive rather than reactive insights in community operations.
“That’s the next phase we’re working on, being able to better predict things and develop execution plans going forward,” Agins said.
This data effort is taking place as the senior living industry is “catching up to speed” as data availability has allowed operators to make quicker decisions, rather than waiting in a lag period to receive financial or operational data, Dickinson said.
“I think there’s a lot of value in the dashboard metrics and in the communication with the owners, but where the rubber meets the road is, is that the communities,” Dickinson said. “So to the extent we can use real time data to help create predictive analytics around difficult situations, I think that’s where there’s immediate value with operations and our model.”
Supporting growth with a focus on operations
Senior living providers have had many opportunities to scale in recent years, given the plethora of acquisition opportunities on the market.
While the company has a broad goal of reaching 40 communities in 10 years, Dickinson said the company is “valuing growth in the context of our ability to stay close to operations.”
“Where we’re at now is, we’re focused really on the next year or two years out,” Dickinson said. “If we take on one more deal this year, I think that would be a good year for us.”
In taking on new communities, Dickinson said these new management opportunities allow for resetting of rates, staffing and expectations.
“You reset the acquisition, you reset the capital stack, you reset the rates, you reset the labor—you can really shift the business plan,” he said.
