Seniors Housing Business is the magazine that helps you navigate the evolution of the seniors housing industry.
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Seniors Housing Business n February/March 2017 Visit northmarq.com for daily rates, expert views, recent transactions and more! As the nation's largest privately-owned servicer and provider of commercial real estate debt and equity, NorthMarq Capital has the strength and stability to execute transactions with certainty and deliver results that suit even the most unique needs. Your real estate financing should be built on "when"... not "if." C O M M E R C I A L R E A L E S T A T E D E B T , E Q U I T Y & S E R V I C I N G their apartments. "Assisted living is overdone," says Hanson. "It's getting squeezed." A focus on freestanding memory care is seen as a plus at the LaSalle Group. "We believe we are one of the best providers in the space," says Barbee. "Why mess with a good thing?" The blended blueprint Watermark Retirement Com- munities is taking an approach common in the industry today. Its new projects are a combination of assisted living and memory care units. Watermark owns and oper- ates 38 buildings and serves as a third-party manager for another property. The company has five new proj- ects underway. Each one includes a memory care component cou- pled with assisted living, or with assisted living and independent living. "If there is a need for assisted living, there is a need for memory care," says Rich Howell, managing director at Watermark Retirement Communities, a developer and owner based in Tucson, Ariz. "So you try to build both." A high percentage of assisted living residents have some mem- ory loss, notes Howell. A memory care component allows residents whose diseases progress to stay in the community and receive the programming and staffing they need. New residents know they can get memory care services if needed in the future. "That gives them comfort," says Howell. Watermark has a new project underway in Tucson, Hacienda at the River. The community will feature three buildings: assisted living (50 units); memory care (20 units); and skilled nursing/rehab (65 beds). The 20-unit memory care build- ing is the right size to deliver the kind of intensive programming and services needed by those residents, says Howell. The staff- ing ratio in memory care is higher than in assisted living. The mem- ory care staff provides about 3.5 hours of care a day to each resi- dent compared with 1.5 to 2.5 hours a day in assisted living. The memory care building includes a dining room and open kitchen where residents can get their own drinks and snacks. The building has two courtyards. "The design mimics a home," says Howell. The combination of offering memory care and assisted living in a larger community creates addi- tional programming opportunities for the memory care residents. For example, Watermark's Haci- enda at the River project is being built on a seven-acre site previ- ously occupied by a horse ranch. Dovetailing on that theme, the community will feature a stable and paddock. Watermark is work- ing with a local equine therapy program that will bring horses to the property. Residents will be able to interact with the horses, groom them and eventually possibly ride them as well, explains Howell. "Horses are good for people." n About the writer Jane Adler is a freelance reporter who has covered seniors housing for more than 10 years. She reports on the industry as well as consumer trends. An open dining room serves as a gathering place in the memory care neighborhood at Watermark at Trinity, Trinity, Fla.