Village Shalom continues to move forward with its plans for a major campus expansion. The project will increase the footprint of the south Overland Park retirement community by 50 percent. The plans include a new 48-residence free-standing memory care community, a four-story independent living apartment community, a repurposed short-term rehabilitation center with expanded therapy space, and a “Main Street” with dining and service amenities that will serve as the corridor from the new apartment community to the existing continuing-care campus. Construction is on-track to begin in early 2018, with completion set for the late summer of 2019.
“The extent of the work completed to this point has been done so behind-the-scenes,” said Village Shalom President and CEO Matt Lewis. “We’ve made a number of exciting improvements to our initial plan — especially those dealing with the new memory care community.”
The new memory care community will be constructed and staffed as a true Household Model. This model utilizes a multi-faceted approach to create an atmosphere of care that encompasses the comforts of home. The Household Model is widely considered to be today’s pre-eminent method of care for those experiencing Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
The three-story memory care community will feature three 16-residence households, each with its own shared community living and amenity spaces. The building’s capacity remains unchanged from its original plans, but has moved from four to three households.
“This adjustment will ensure better functionality and operational efficiencies to improve resident quality of life and staff satisfaction,” Lewis said. “We’ve also reoriented the building to improve parking and increase greenspace.”
Village Shalom has increased the expansion’s number of independent living apartments from its original plan of 60 to 76. This increase was in response to the high consumer demand for independent living residences that share a connection to the resources of Village Shalom’s existing main campus. The community still intends to construct a 13-residence independent living building adjacent to its existing villa community in a later phase of expansion. Village Shalom has begun pre-sales for its new independent living apartments. The community has completed reservation contracts for over a third of the apartments and two of the six floor plans have sold out.
“We’ve had a great response in our initial presale phase, and are expecting another strong wave when we release our interior design drawings later this summer,” said Village Shalom Director of Sales and Marketing Jill Allin. “The apartments and dedicated independent living amenities are something we have been missing, and people are excited about the new active lifestyle this community will bring.”
The “Main Street” corridor adjacent to the new apartments will feature a number of high-end amenities including a full-service restaurant, bistro, pub, theater and day spa. The building will also include an underground resident parking garage.
Village Shalom has closed on its pre-construction financing, and the design phase of the project is nearly complete. The community plans to roll out its interior design drawings in a number of public presentations set to take place in the next few months.
“We have an important responsibility to this community,” Lewis said. “We’re not only tasked with creating the pre-eminent senior living community of tomorrow, we must ensure that we minimize disruption to the residents who make Village Shalom their home today. We are confident that we have a plan that will do so.”
Construction is anticipated to begin in early 2018. The expansion will roll out in several phases with a final completion date in the late summer of 2019.
At its current location since 2000, Village Shalom has provided hundreds of seniors with a wide range of services including independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing and specialized Alzheimer’s care. In addition, community members benefit from The Wellness Center, the Great Days Social Club day-stay program (for those with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease), the Epsten Gallery of Art and outpatient rehabilitation services. In 2012, the organization marked a century of providing the highest-quality care to seniors throughout the Greater Kansas City area.
For more information on the Village Shalom expansion, visit www.VillageShalom.org/Future.