Developers Blend Traditional CCRC with Mixed-Use, All-Ages Housing

The ingredients to develop the next generation of senior living may include one part senior housing developer, one part local hospital and one part wellness organization.

That’s the recipe for a Midwest partnership planning to construct a $60 million integrated care campus that will blend senior housing with primary and post-acute care within an intergenerational living community.

Together, Kansas-based Action Pact, along with Healthy Living Centers of America and Missouri’s Liberty Hospital intend to create the “next generation” of senior living in Liberty, Missouri, says Action Pact CEO Steve Shields.

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Dubbed the Healthy Living Community, the development will be anchored by a 65,000-square-foot healthy living center designed to serve as the hub for healthcare integration.

Designated as an urban mixed-use development, the project will be located 15 miles north of downtown Kansas City on the campus of Liberty Hospital, with Interstate 29 sitting on the west and farmland to the east.

The first phase of the project will also include 40 assisted living and 40 memory support residences, 20 skilled nursing residences and a short-term stay recovery hotel with 40 guest suites. The “hotel” portion is licensed as a short-term stay skilled household.

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A flag bearer for the household model, Action Pact will design all of the assisted living and skilled-nursing residences in that style. Under this model, groups of 20 or fewer residents will occupy a single house, which will be located in direct proximity to the healthy living center on campus.

“The household model will place much greater emphasis on creating a home-within-a-home, so that rather than bedrooms within the house, [units] are apartments within a household,” says Shields. “It will increase the deep sense of home people will feel while living there.”

The project will not only bridge the gap between primary and post-acute care services, but will also invite the broader community with several mixed-use elements, including retail and restaurant spaces, which are also planned for Phase 1.

Though the size and scope of the development resembles similar features to that of a traditional continuing care retirement community (CCRC), the biggest differentiator will be the on-campus amenities available for public use.

“Rather than being a CCRC with services and amenities strictly for residents, the community is going to be a part of the town,” says Shields. “When people go out to dinner, the next table may be a family of four who lives down the street.”

Future phases of the project even include primary housing for healthcare professionals and people of all ages located on campus, as well as additional office, medical and retail uses. All-ages living will take the forms of apartment housing, lofts, row-houses and a variety of different housing types that will be integrated on campus.

As for the number of all-ages housing the development will construct, Action Pact says it is still working with a market research firm to “drill-down” the final numbers.

“There will be people of all ages living in this village,” says Shields. “The central community of many spaces will be for people of all ages to achieve wellness and well-being with strong health and fitness membership presences for all.”

For those non-seniors that decide to live in the community village, and also those living outside the campus, Shields says membership to the healthy living center will be just like belonging to any other type of fitness center.

“We’re eager to begin moving our community fabric away from segregating elders by keeping people fully integrated into the town, as well as fully integrating the town into our community,” Shields said.

Though the company says it is considering Ziegler Securities to lead the fund sourcing process, it will continue to evaluate multiple types of funding sources for the development.

Written by Jason Oliva

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