Aegis Living is developing multiple new communities in 2024, setting the company up to serve the incoming demographic of older adults with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
It’s no secret the baby boomers are looking for something novel in senior living, and that many of them will require memory care services. By 2060, it is projected that 6.7 million individuals aged 85 and older will have Alzheimer’s disease, accounting for nearly half of all people aged 65 and older with the condition, according to a recent report by the Alzheimer’s Association.
Aegis CEO Dwayne Clark sees the next 24 to 36 months as an opportunity for well-positioned operators to capture a “big need” of a very deep market for assisted living and memory care.
“To sum it all up, I think we feel pretty confident where we’re going,” Clark told Memory Care Business.
The organization recently brought online two new developments in the Seattle area, both of which took upwards of five years to bring to reality.
With senior living construction projects taking longer than in the past, Aegis is using that time to create the next iteration of its communities. Typically, the operator’s projects are unique and contain amenities geared toward the people living in them.
In the past, Aegis projects have included design aesthetics modeled after Capri, Italy, or a Lake Placid, New York ski lodge. In those communities’ memory care settings, residents can take part in multi-sensory experiences such as working with a restored boat or riding in an RV with video screens in place of a windshield. Even Aegis’ Bellevue, Washington, headquarters includes eclectic design elements such as a treehouse conference room.
Looking ahead, the company is taking those practices and iterating on them in new projects.
The company’s newest openings include an assisted living and memory care community in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood taking inspiration from Scandinavian aesthetics, designed by DAHLIN Architecture Planning Interiors.
The company also recently opened a community in the neighborhood of Laurelhurst with close proximity to the University of Washington campus and a scaled-down football field for memory care residents.
Seattle-based Aegis Living has 38 communities across the U.S., and the company recently built out its leadership team – including with a new COO – to support further growth ahead.
Creating a ‘wow factor’
In new projects, Aegis looks to “build to a neighborhood” fit seamlessly into the broader area, Clark said. As it has done in the past, Aegis is continually looking to break the mold for memory care and assisted living.
For instance, the company’s Aegis Living Ballard community marries a Pacific Northwestern aesthetic with an homage to the area’s Scandinavian heritage. The nautical-themed community even has a Viking ship hanging from the ceiling of the lobby.
DAHLIN Architecture Planning Interiors DAHLIN Architecture Planning InteriorsThe community offers three floor plans with luxury amenities including on-site physical therapy, a salon, a movie theater, a fitness center, on-site nurses and a massage room. It’s also the first community in the Aegis portfolio that offers an infrared light therapy chamber to promote wellness and reduce inflammation, Clark said.
The Laurelhurst community is near theWashington University campus and has access to a local shopping mall and recreation spaces.
The site where the community now sits once contained an ice cream shop and watch repair store. To retain some of the site’s original feel, the company refurbished a clock at the site of a former watch repair shop.
The community also includes unique amenities for memory care residents such as a scaled-down football field in the Alzheimer’s unit, Clark said.
Residents can step off of the gridiron and onto the community’s sixth floor to find a full-size recreational vehicle (RV) stocked with food and drinks for a tailgate party.
“We wanted to add a ‘wow’ factor to the community,” Clark said. “So we have a tailgate party always with us.”
Aegis communities come with an array of dining options not always seen in assisted living and memory care settings, such as pizza hearths and demonstration kitchens.
The company also last month started opening its doors to the general public in the Seattle area, who can buy memberships and use various amenities, Clark added.
Building on the momentum
While senior living development remains tough, Aegis has not slowed down its growth plans. The company is negotiation plans for a handful of new projects in Sammamish, Woodinville and Bellevue that are meant to take typical senior living community design to its next iteration.
Aegis is approximately 10 to 12 months away from opening an additional 112,000 square-foot assisted living and memory care community in San Rafael, California with 101 units. Planned amenities include indoor and outdoor dining, an activity room, a fitness center, a wellness suite, a movie theater and auditorium and a rooftop terrace. The community draws design inspiration from the nearby historic Mission San Rafael, a former Spanish mission.
Aegis Living Aegis Living“We’ve had a great reception just in pre-sales and marketing on that property,” Clark said.
Looking further down the road, Aegis is in negotiation on multiple properties for potential future developments.
By not undercutting a community’s value proposition with rate discounts or concessions – ultimately a “bait-and-switch” for new residents, Clark said – Aegis communities are able to avoid becoming a revolving door for move-ins and move-outs.
Aegis recently appointed a new chief medical officer, Raj Dasgupta, MD, along with adding former Solera President and MorningStar chief financial officer (CFO) Jamie Ranzan as the company’s new CFO.
The company also brought on Troy Nelson as chief operating officer who brings two decades of leadership experience with Nike and Nordstrom, along with hiring Kevin Hunter Sr. as vice president of operations, who brings years of experience from Sunrise, Atria and Watermark.
With occupancy in the mid-80th percentile on average, Clark said Aegis communities are still searching for the company’s 93% average occupancy rate last seen in 2019.
“We’re going to maintain our rates, maintain our communities and we’re going to provide good value and so if you’re able to increase margin by maintaining the same census, I think you’re in a position when demand starts growing.”
