Legends Landing to House Retired NFL Hall of Famers

Senior Hall of Famers from the National Football League Association will soon have an assisted living facility to call home. A 150-unit facility, Legends Landing, is currently underway for former football players who need an assisted living level of care in Canton, Ohio.

The project is part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Village, a $500 million campus under development that includes eight components—a museum, sports complex, hotel and conference center, youth sports complex, center for excellence, restaurants and retail, NFL family experience and the assisted living residential facility. The new facility is meant for aging players who want to return to the institution.

Legends Landing is primarily being developed by Industry Realty Group, LLC, a California-based privately-held real estate development and investment firm that manages more than 120 properties in 28 states. Between five to 10 operators have expressed interest in running the community, CantonRep.com reported. Haskell Senior Living, a design and construction firm that focuses on retirement communities, has been chosen to design and build the residence. Haskell has built similar facilities for specialized populations, including the U.S. Navy and Air Force. 

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Senior care tailored to sports players is relatively still new. The NFL Alumni Association already works with Validus Senior Living to provide care to former players diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and dementia. The partnership aims to open 33 assisted living facilities over the next five years in cities with bigger concentrations of former NFL players. These facilities are not limited to NFL players. 

The NFL’s push to increase care options for aging players follows a $765 million settlement in 2013 over concussion-related brain injuries to provide benefits to its 18,000 retired players. 

A recent study about the impacts of football reveal that up to 40% of retired players had evidence abnormal brain structures. Additionally, the more years a player spent in the NFL, the more likely he was to have signs of traumatic brain injury (TBI), Time reported on the study’s findings. The latest study provides some of the strongest evidence yet that football can cause serious brain injuries. 

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The residence at the Hall of Fame Village may eventually be expanded beyond assisted living and former NFL players, project leaders told CantonRep.com.

The projected opening of the facility is May 2018 with a construction cost of approximately $25 million.  

Written by Amy Baxter

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