While large national chains and luxury facilities dominate the senior living landscape, a Florida-based operator is challenging the assumption that quality care requires premium pricing. Elevated Estates, founded in early 2022, has carved out a distinctive niche by serving what the company identifies as a chronically underserved market: residents who can’t afford $8,000-$12,000 monthly rents but still deserve outstanding care, upgraded amenities, and a genuine sense of community.
“We started with the premise of really trying to build out the middle market within assisted living,” explains Doug Halperin, partner at Elevated Estates. “This is a very underserved and underappreciated area. Our goal is simple: provide residents with a great place to live, great food, good care, and activities in a clean, upgraded environment – all at an affordable price.”
With multiple locations across Florida, including Brooksville, Dade City, Spring Hill, and New Port Richey, Elevated Estates has developed a reputation for transforming underperforming properties into thriving communities where residents receive personalized care without the luxury price tag.
The Turnaround Model
What distinguishes Elevated Estates in the competitive senior living market isn’t just their pricing strategy – it’s their specialized expertise in identifying and revitalizing underperforming assisted living properties. The company targets facilities that have fallen short of their potential due to mismanagement, deferred maintenance, or misalignment with resident needs.
“We look for properties where there’s been a lot of deferred maintenance, where marketing efforts and relationships haven’t been built in the right way, or where care hasn’t been handled appropriately,” Halperin notes. “Our focus is on finding the right levers to add value – to the property, to the residents, and to the ecosystem as a whole.”
The Elevated Estates transformation process goes well beyond cosmetic upgrades. The company implements comprehensive best practices, completes necessary renovations, brings fresh energy to operations, and often rebuilds entire staff cultures from the ground up. The result is what the company calls a “resident-focused approach” that prioritizes the people being served above operational convenience.
Building Trust Through Local Relationships
According to Halperin, assisted living is fundamentally a relationship-based business, and this perspective shapes everything Elevated Estates does. He points to a critical disconnect in how many large national operators approach local markets.
“A lot of times properties are operated by big national companies with large operators that don’t necessarily take the time or have the time to build local relationships,” he explains. “If none of your higher-ups are coming to visit the property, if none of them are coming to meet with people, it shows.”
Elevated Estates takes the opposite approach, investing heavily in building connections with hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, social workers, and placement agencies – the network of professionals who help families navigate the often overwhelming process of finding appropriate care for their loved ones. These relationships are built on trust, consistency, and a demonstrated commitment to quality care.
“People want to do a good job, and they want to provide people with the right level of care and match them with an appropriate place to live,” Halperin says. “We focus on building those local relationships. It takes time to change a building’s reputation, especially if a previous operator mishandled things, but that’s what it’s about – creating a reputation that shows you care about the residents, the staff, and the product you’re putting out there.”
This relationship-driven approach has proven particularly effective in Florida’s senior living market, where word-of-mouth referrals and professional recommendations carry significant weight with families making difficult care decisions for aging loved ones.
Culture as Competitive Advantage
One of Elevated Estates’ core differentiators is the company’s emphasis on employee morale and empowerment. The organization operates on the principle that resident care quality is directly tied to staff members’ feelings about their work environment.
“One of our major focuses is ensuring high morale amongst employees, because that’s really what drives resident care,” Halperin explains. “We take a top-down approach to instill a sense of ownership, a desire to make things better, and independence to always be working toward greater goals and improvements.”
This philosophy extends to Elevated Estates’ organizational structure, which Halperin describes as “nimble and flat.” Unlike larger operators, where policy changes can require months of committee reviews, Elevated Estates can implement improvements quickly when staff or residents identify opportunities for enhancement.
“If something’s not working, it’s not a six-month or 12-month process,” Halperin says. “Residents and staff can communicate things to management very quickly, and changes are implemented relatively fast. When we see a good idea, it can be done that week.”
This agility allows Elevated Estates to respond to individual resident needs, adapt to changing market conditions, and continuously refine operations based on real-world feedback rather than corporate mandates developed far from the communities they serve.
More Than Real Estate
While assisted living falls under the commercial real estate umbrella, Elevated Estates recognizes the fundamental differences between its business and typical property management operations.
“Assisted living is definitely in the sphere of real estate, but there’s a huge operating component,” Halperin notes. “As opposed to other areas of real estate where you might have two or three employees handling a large building, in assisted living, it could be 40 or 50 people to handle that same size. You’re not just managing a property – you’re helping ensure that people are taken care of in the right way. You’re enabling older people who need your help to live a successful, happy, and growth-oriented life.”
This people-centric approach permeates every aspect of how Elevated Estates operates. The company offers a range of services beyond traditional assisted living, including memory care for residents with Alzheimer’s and dementia, respite care for short-term stays, and limited mental health support, allowing communities to serve residents with varying needs.
Each Elevated Estates location features customized care plans tailored to individual resident requirements, 24-hour staffing, activities programming designed to keep residents engaged and active, and an emphasis on maintaining independence while providing necessary support.
Affordable Without Compromise
Perhaps the most significant aspect of the Elevated Estates model is demonstrating that affordable pricing doesn’t require compromising on quality. With rates typically ranging from $2,500 to $4,800 per month,h depending on location and level of care, well below the $8,000-$12,000+ charged by luxury facilities, Elevated Estates serves families who have been priced out of quality care options.
“We’re serving people who want a great place to live, great food, good care, and activities in a clean, upgraded environment at an affordable price,” Halperin emphasizes. “That market has been underserved for too long.”
This commitment to the middle market has resonated throughout Florida, where many families find themselves caught between expensive luxury options and bare-bones budget facilities that may not provide the level of care their loved ones deserve.
Looking Ahead
As Elevated Estates continues to grow, the company is focused on expanding its platform and service offerings while maintaining the quality standards that have defined its success. The organization is implementing a centralized digital presence better to showcase the Elevated Estates brand across all properties, moving away from individual property websites toward a unified platform that reflects the company’s cohesive identity and values.
“We’re looking to continue growing our platform and service offerings, potentially expanding into different areas and serving a wider range of individuals,” Halperin shares. “We want to continue providing our services to an expanding audience.”
For families throughout Florida searching for quality assisted living options, Elevated Estates represents a compelling alternative to the traditional binary choice between expensive luxury facilities and compromised budget options. By focusing on the underserved middle market and bringing a relationship-driven, people-first approach to operations, the company is demonstrating that exceptional senior care can be both excellent and affordable.
Disclosure: Individuals or companies mentioned may have a commercial relationship with KeyCrew.
