(Rendering of a planned cottage at Presby’s Inspired Life in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania — photo courtesy of Presby’s Inspired Life)

Construction: Planned

Groundbreaking Imminent for Dallas Senior Towers

Workers are due to break ground soon on a new senior living community in Dallas, Dallas News reported.

The new $136 million Ventana community will spread across two residential towers and will contain 225 independent and assisted living apartments alongside space for memory care, skilled nursing, and rehabilitation. Buckner Retirement Services will operate the new community, it was reported.

The community is scheduled to open in the middle of 2019.

90-Unit Assisted Living Community Could Open in Connecticut

A senior living developer has plans for a community in Wilton, Connecticut.

Senior Living Development has submitted plans to for a 90-unit assisted living and memory care community, the Wilton Daily Voice wrote. The new 76,000-square-foot building would open with fine dining, a bistro, a salon, and a fitness center.

If the project wins approval from a local commission later this summer, construction could start in the fall, the Daily Voice reported.

Expansion Planned for Senior Living Community in Pennsylvania

Presby’s Inspired Life, a Philadelphia organization that offers independent living, continuing care and affordable housing in more than 30 communities, has announced the expansion of its Rydal Park community located in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania.

The expansion, called Rydal Waters, is slated to add 85 two-bedroom, two-bath cottages with garages. As planned, the expansion will include a clubhouse with a fitness center, a multipurpose space with fireplace and audio/visual capabilities, a cocktail lounge, an outdoor heated swimming pool, a fire pit, and an outdoor grilling area. Residents also will have access to a dog park and walking trails.

Allegro Senior Living Plots Florida Expansion

Allegro Senior Living, based in St. Louis, plans to expand its footprint in Florida.

The company recently closed on a purchase of an 8-acre parcel in Parkland, Florida. Allegro plans to fill the space by building an independent living, assisted living and memory care community that will be comprised of 175 units.

The company plans to break ground on the project this fall and open the community by early 2019. The planned community will have a similar luxury design known of Allegro communities throughout Florida, the company said.  Meyer Design, an Ardmore, Pennsylvania-based firm, is designing the new facility.

Construction: In progress

Memory Care Community Coming Together in Texas 

A new memory care community is in the works in Rowlett, Texas. Real estate equity firm RCP Properties and Dallas-based Matteo Realty Partners in March began development on a 40-unit joint venture memory care facility aimed at helping people who are suffering from Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

When the facility, dubbed Iris Memory Care, opens later this year, residents will be able to live in private or companion suites and participate in specialized activities. Additionally, the community’s staffers are all trained specifically to aid people with memory impairment.

The community is being financed by Great Southern Bank of Springfield, Missouri, and will be managed by EvoLve Senior Living.

This isn’t the first joint venture memory care facility from RCP and Matteo. The companies also collaborated on the 36-unit Iris Memory Care community in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Next Phase of $90 Million Retirement Community Underway in Missouri

A large retirement community in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, is growing even larger. Workers broke ground last September on the latest phase of a $90-million redevelopment project at The Meadows at John Knox Village, according to a press release.

The new phase of construction is slated to add to the community 112 new apartments, a restaurant, a pub, an aquatics center with a 20-foot indoor lap pool, a second fitness center, additional private dining venues, and a media center.

A three-story apartment building is scheduled to open at the site this summer, and the 25,000-square-foot commons building that will house the fitness, dining, and public gathering spaces is expected to open in August. The remaining buildings in the complex are scheduled to open in early fall 2017 and in January 2018.

Construction Begins at Senior Living Community in Minnesota

Work began this month on Stonehaven of Eagan, a new 95-unit senior living community planned for Eagan, Minnesota. As planned, the community will span four stories and 130,000 square feet.

Stonehaven of Eagan Senior Living will be developed by Headwaters Development and managed by Ebenezer Management Services, which provides daily operational and management services.

Residents will live in 80 independent senior living apartments and assisted living units and 15 memory care apartments. The space also will be packed with amenities, including chef-prepared meals served “restaurant style,” underground parking, a pub, library, lounges, chapel, hair salon and spa, and a guest suite. The community will also include a private dining room, community room, movie theater, game room, Wi-Fi and a fitness center that offers classes and wellness programs, Stonehaven said in a press release.

Construction Underway for Two Communities in Georgia

Atlanta’s Arbor Company has announced it will operate two new communities in Dacula and Marietta, Georgia.

The first of the two, the Solana East Cobb, is scheduled to open in Marietta this fall. The community will come with 66 assisted living apartments. It will also have 28 apartments in a “memory care neighborhood” designed specifically for seniors living with Alzheimer’s or forms of dementia, Arbor Company wrote in a release. Other planned perks include a fitness room and wellness center with direct access to an outdoor terrace equipped for both physical and occupational therapy, a card and game room, and a movie theater.

The second of the two projects currently underway is the second phase of the Arbor Terrace in Dacula, Georgia. The site of the new project is adjacent to Ann Arbor’s existing senior living community in Dacula and will add 11 private cottages and 89 one- and two-bedroom units, the company said. The units range in size from 697 to 1,262 square feet, and pricing will start at $3,400 per month with no buy-in investment required.

Residents who live in the independent living community can access home health care through Arbor’s partnership with a local provider. Other planned features of the new addition include a heated, indoor pool, fitness and yoga room, rehab gym, coffee and wine bar, a courtyard with outdoor dining, space for bocce, a workshop and craft room, a theater, salon and a restaurant-style dining room.

Ground Broken on Expansion at Senior Housing Community in Florida

The Jewish Housing Council Foundation, which is the fundraising arm of the Sarasota-Manatee Jewish Housing Council, held a groundbreaking ceremony this month for the expansion of a new multi-purpose community room for the Aviva: A Campus for Senior Life community in Sarasota, Florida.

The expanded multi-purpose room will be dubbed The Kretzmer Center at Aviva, a name that honors Sarasota Philanthropist Ernest Kretzmer, who was the lead donor on the project. The room is slated to be used for Aviva’s educational and entertainment events alongside happenings from local non-profit organizations. The project will double the space of the existing room and add state-of-the-art audio visual and hearing loop systems with enhanced seating.

Construction: Complete

Delaware Skilled Nursing Center’s ADL Suite Complete 

Workers earlier this month put the finishing touches on a new ADL suite at Regal Heights Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Hockessin, Delaware. Regal Heights Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center is a 172-bed subacute care and skilled nursing center.

The new rehabilitation suite allows residents to stay mobile and independent in a setting that mirrors a home environment, making transitions easier, Regal wrote in a press release. The suite comes equipped with a washer and dryer combo, a kitchenette space with dishwasher, a free-standing range, and two “bathroom” areas with a walk-in shower and a tub and shower combo. The new suite also has an area that allows residents to practice how to safely get in and out of bed and a private meeting space where family members can confer with rehabilitation staff.

Health Care Center Opens in CCRC in Boca Raton, Florida

The Toby and Leon Cooperman Sinai Residences of Boca Raton, Florida, celebrated the opening of a new 126,000-square-foot health care center yesterday afternoon.

The new health care center is part of Sinai Residences, a 650,000-square-foot community that features 234 independent luxury apartments, 60 private skilled nursing suites, 48 assisted living apartments and 24 private memory care suites. The center offers rehabilitative services alongside physical, occupational and speech therapies.

Dominion Partners Opens New Community in Georgia, With Another on the Way in Tennessee

Dominion Partners this week announced the opening of a new Somerby Senior Living property in Sandy Springs, Georgia, and teased another due to open soon in Franklin, Tennessee.

The Somerby in Sandy Springs, which opened in February, has 128 independent living apartments, 48 assisted living apartments and 24 memory care units over 6 acres of land. It also comes with such amenities as full-service fine dining, a bistro and cafe, a library, a media lounge, a salon and spa, concierge health care, and a health and wellness center.

Later this spring, Dominion is scheduled to open a new community in Franklin, Tennessee. When it opens, that community will feature four dining venues, two theaters, access to medical care with on-site physician space, a health club, a heated indoor aerobics pool, a physical therapy area, a library and media center, and multiple indoor and outdoor social areas, including a coffee bar, lounge and craft rooms. Scheduled transportation and a full schedule of activities will also be available at the new community.

‘Mayberry-Style Community’ for Seniors to Hold Grand Opening in North Carolina

A “Mayberry-style” senior living community is on the cusp of opening its doors in Clayton, North Carolina.

The Walk at East Village, a new construction for the “55+ age-qualified active living community,” is set to hold a grand opening celebration on April 22, according to a press release.

When the community opens, it will be comprised of “pocket communities,” which are clusters of 8-12 homes that face each other and are situated around a shared common space such as a garden courtyard. The goal, according to the release, is to promote interaction among residents.

Residents can buy homes through an online system developed specifically for the community. The new approach “makes the purchasing process easier and more transparent, eliminates bait-and-switch pricing and gives the homebuyer a large range of style options to choose from,” the company noted.

Written by Tim Regan