Tod Petty, Mainstay Financial, Chief Investment Officer

Middle-market senior living rates are still achievable through disciplined, math-driven operating models to meet rising acuity and affordability needs of older adults.

That’s according to Mainstay Financial Services Chief Investment Officer Tod Petty, who rejoined the organization in June of 2025 and is now helping to expand the Lakeland, Florida-based senior living provider in the middle-market sector as demographic demand fuels senior living growth opportunities.

Mainstay’s focus on middle-market affordability and secondary and tertiary markets across the Southeast comes as the private-pay senior living industry grapples with the affordability perception of its offerings in 2026. Petty sees middle-market senior living as a structural math problem, not a branding exercise, and says success hinges on aligning cost basis, operations and capital expectations.

“For us, the middle market really isn’t a branding category. It’s a math problem, and we’ve structured the platform, the capital, the operations and our geography to solve that,” Petty said on the most recent episode of the SHN Transform podcast.

Over the next 24 months, Mainstay is targeting an acquisition pace of two to four properties per year, primarily in the Southeast. The company plans to build clusters in markets where it already operates – such as Lakeland, Florida and larger metropolitan areas like Atlanta – to share resources and operate more efficiently.

A key part of the company’s growth strategy is focused on secondary and tertiary markets to expand middle-market options with less competition than primary markets. These markets often have an “exploding” health care presence from regional hospitals, post-acute and urgent care providers that are all chasing the same demographic-driven demand.