ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 26, 1997 TAG: 9701240044
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
Residential pods, connected much like a space station by walkways on two levels, will be the centerpiece of an assisted living community to be built near Roanoke Regional Airport.
It will be the first of several planned throughout the country by Church of God communities and will be the model for the others, said the Rev. Ottis Burgher of Roanoke, spokesman for the General Assembly of Church of God in Virginia.
Similar projects are scheduled in Florida, Pennsylvania and Indiana, he said.
Burgher is the administrator of Shenandoah Homes, a Church of God nursing home and senior apartment facility near the new project. Last month, Burgher announced that the project was under study. Last week, he and Keith Green, chief executive officer of HCMF Corp. development company, said they had enough supporting data to move ahead with The Village at Shenandoah. Burgher and Green also said the development design is flexible enough to be altered to meet the needs of prospective residents.
An initial meeting held to gauge interest in the project drew 84 people, and several suggested that some living areas be suitable for persons suffering from progressive diseases such as Alzheimer's and dementia, Burgher said. Mainly, these areas would need extra security to prevent residents from wandering away from the complex.
Construction on the $11million project should begin by summer, Green said.
A division of HCMF, Constant Care of Roanoke, will develop and manage the facility. HCMF has been in business 21 years and owns 20 nursing homes and three assisted-living complexes.
The Roanoke project has been designed to keep families together longer by providing housing that allows a range of care. For example, one family member could remain in independent living and still be near a spouse who needs assisted care, said Ted Boggess, the Princeton, W.Va., architect who drew the plans. Boggess is a member of the Church of God and was also the architect for Shenandoah Homes. He said the village design is based on ideas popular for many years in Scandinavian countries.
Thirty-four one-bedroom and two-bedroom independent living cottages are planned on the outer perimeter of the 17-acre site off Airport Road. In the interior, eight assisted-living pods, each to house 16 residents, will radiate from a central entrance galleria that includes a chapel as well as a computer classroom and a cafe.
The project will incorporate amenities designed to inspire good health, such as walking trails and a weightlifting room, Boggess said.
The Village at Shenandoah, which will be nondenominational, will be functional once four pods and the central galleria are built, he said.
Monthly costs are expected to be $1,400 to $1,500 for the independent quarters and up to $2,400 in the assisted-living pods. The Village at Shenandoah will be a nonprofit company.
The project is adjacent to Shenandoah Homes, which has 54 nursing home beds and more than 100 apartments.
Burgher said the village project has been planned for more than a year. The decision to build it was by a unanimous vote, "a minor miracle in church groups," he said.
The Church of God project joins two others that have some similarities.
One is Ridgewood Manor, an assisted-living community near Columbia Lewis-Gale Medical Center in Salem. Smith/Packett Med-Com Inc. has scheduled a Jan.29 groundbreaking for the $5.2million 74-unit project. It will have studio and one-bedroom units and includes facilities for Alzheimer's patients.
Smith/Packett also is building a nursing home and assisted living community off U.S. 220 in Roanoke, on a site behind Hunting Hills Plaza shopping center. The first structure in what will be a high-security gated community is the $4million 60-bed replacement facility for the Roanoke City Nursing Home. It is expected to be finished by July.
The company's long-range plans call for doubling the capacity of the nursing home and adding up to 500 apartments, town houses, condominiums and patio homes on the 50-acre site.
The Roanoke and New River valleys, along with most of the country, can expect a boom in alternative housing for older citizens, said Keith Green of HCMF.
Between 1990 and 2050, the number of Americans 65 and older will more than double, from 31 million in 1990 to more than 79 million in 2050, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The wealth of that age group also is on the rise. Median net worth of householders 75 and older went from $55,178 in 1984 to $76,541 in 1991.
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: 1. An artist's concept shows one of theby CNBassisted-living pods that will be in the interior area of the
development near Roanoke Regional Airport. color. 2. In addition to
the assisted-living pods in the interior, 34 one-bedroom and
two-bedroom independent living cottages are planned on the outer
perimeter of the development.