Not long after Fred Weitz began building retirement communities in the early 1960s, he found a lack of good professional management services available. So in 1971 he founded Christian Home Services Inc. as a separate business to specialize in the development, marketing and management of retirement communities.

The Des Moines-based company spun off from the Weitz Co. in 1995, when Fred Weitz retired and sold Life Care to its employees. Today, the company, now called Life Care Services Inc., manages 82 retirement communities in 31 states. It provides services to more than 23,000 senior residents, which makes it the fifth-largest in the country in terms of units managed.

Using its significant operating efficiencies, the company is continuing to grow nationally, on average picking up one new management contract each quarter and developing one new community each year.

“Very simply put, our business is all about developing and managing full-campus retirement communities throughout the United States,” said Ed Kenny, Life Care Services’ president and CEO. With six regional offices and 10 business units, LCS employs an administrative staff of 325, of which about 110 work at its headquarters office in Capital Square.

The communities owned or managed by LCS are located not only in the Sun Belt states, but also throughout the Eastern seaboard, across the Midwest and on the Pacific Coast. It manages three communities in Iowa: Deerfield in Des Moines, Green Hills of Ames and Cottage Grove Place in Cedar Rapids.

“What we’re seeing is that folks aren’t necessarily retiring to Florida or the Southwest like they did 10 or 15 years ago,” Kenny said. “The retiree today is basically retiring in the area where they have strong family connections or strong professional or social connections.”

That trend is illustrated by the company’s recent activity. LCS last year opened a community in Mystic, Conn.; in April it will open a community near Nashville, Tenn.; another community is under construction in Seattle; and it just bought an option on some land in Plymouth, Minn.

A similarly named Des Moines company, Life Care Retirement Communities Inc., which owns Deerfield, was also founded by Weitz as a separate, not-for-profit organization. Today, LCRC owns 11 communities, of which Life Care Services manages three, including Deerfield. LCS provides consulting services to seven other LCRC communities.

“It has been a very good relationship, but to their credit, they have gotten to the size where they’re assuming more of their management responsibilities, and we’re supportive of that,” Kenny said.

Life Care Services’ revenue growth, which has been averaging 10 to 15 percent per year, is fueled by an industry that’s becoming increasingly complex, which has led more not-for-profit organizations to seek out the expertise of larger companies, Kenny said.

“Our campuses are very complex; you have the responsibility for providing housing for typically over 300 seniors, operating a full-scale food and beverage program, with the responsibility to develop and manage a strong social and recreational program and provide health-care services,” he said. “And the business is subject to a number of regulations.”

Additionally, Kenny said he believes there is a growing acceptance in the market of for-profit ownership of retirement communities.

“There are some very successful regional real estate developers we work with that want to assume the development responsibilities, and we’re very comfortable with that,” he said. “But they have no interest in the management or operational challenges.”

Residents of retirement communities are demanding much more flexibility in how the services are provided, Kenny said.

“Clearly, our customer wants a larger living space, a stronger amenity package,” which might include higher-quality cupboards, deluxe appliances and granite countertops, he said. Also, “we’re finding our customers want multiple dining venues within a campus. They’ll have a formal dining room, but also a more casual setting.” The company is also introducing a monthly food and beverage allowance at some of its communities to allow residents more flexibility in their meal choices.

At the same time, the prices of its services continue to rise, driven largely by increasing labor costs. “It’s a very labor-intensive business; about 65 cents of every dollar spent is due to labor,” Kenny said. “Recruiting and retaining staff is a big issue.”

As one of very few employee-owned companies in the industry, “I think that gives us a lot of internal discipline in how we go about growing the business,” Kenny said. “I think it’s a real strong positive aspect of LCS. Part of our value system is that we serve the customer first and foremost. We live and breathe that every day, and our customer is that resident living in a retirement community.”

The company spends a lot of time surveying residents to assess its communities’ quality and performance, as well as to gauge interests or needs specific to each community, Kenny said.

“I am very proud to say that of the current surveys, 96 percent of those residents surveyed would recommend their community to a friend,” he said. “But we want to improve on that benchmark.” Also, data from all operational areas of each community are made available companywide as an incentive for each community’s manager to continually improve his or her performance, he said.

“Our focus is to grow to provide increased opportunities for our employees and obviously provide a return to shareholders. And growth allows us to make additional investments to offer additional services to our clients. We enjoy going about our business as a very quiet leader in this business. We’re committed to providing the care and services to those 23,000 folks.”