The senior living development Waterstone of Westchester has opened and the first residents have moved into the building at 150 Bloomingdale Road in White Plains, directly across from the Bloomingdale”™s department store. The 132-unit building features 77 one-bedroom and 55 two-bedroom apartments, some with dens, along with a variety of amenities for residents.
The White Plains opening comes on the heels of the Waterstone on High Ridge development opening in Stamford. While the Stamford facility offers independent living, assisted living and memory care, the Westchester location is offering independent living for seniors age 62 and up who are looking for what Waterstone describes as “curated style and elegance.” If needed, residents can arrange for home health care services through Visiting Nurse Services in Westchester.
The project is on a 6.72-acre site and the new building contains approximately 205,600 square feet. It”™s a project by EPOCH Senior Living, headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, and its development partner National Development based in the Massachusetts community of Newton Lower Falls. When National Development was seeking approvals from the city of White Plains to build in 2018, it estimated the project would cost $120.1 million. The project received sales and mortgage tax exemptions from the Westchester County IDA of more than $3.2 million.
The Waterstone building is adjacent to a 146,000-square-foot office building, which formerly was the Nestlé Co. headquarters and currently includes the New York State Department of Labor among its tenants. A new parking garage has been constructed between the office building and the Waterstone.
“It”™s a rental model so we don”™t require a large buy-in,” Joanna Cormac Burt, CEO of EPOCH Senior Living, told the Business Journals. “It”™s a month-to-month rental, so if it doesn”™t work out for a couple it”™s only a 60-day notice. It isn”™t that they have to sell their unit, so that”™s unique in independent living and I think it sets us apart.”
Burt said that she has been with EPOCH for 23 years and over that time has seen senior citizens become more aware of the various housing alternatives being created.
“They know what they want; they have a better understanding of what independent living is as well as assisted living and there are a lot more choices,” Burt said. “We discovered this site and from an urban standpoint it spoke to what we wanted to achieve here and when we looked at the demographics and surrounding towns it checked off all the boxes of what we look for when we”™re looking at new development.”
Burt said that EPOCH sees White Plains as being on the verge of growing in many ways. She said that one of the groups to which they are marketing the Waterstone of Westchester is seniors who once may have lived in the area with their families, moved out of state and now want to return to live closer to their children again.
“We”™re definitely on the higher end of luxury senior living though we do have affordable options that might meet the medium income level,” Burt said.
The monthly rental rates begin at $8,700 according to Waterstone, which emphasizes there are no long-term contracts or entrance fees. They point out that the rental includes 30 meals per month prepared by the in-house chef, pool membership for the heated indoor pool, social and educational activities along with entertainment, health club membership, appliance service and home upkeep, weekly housekeeping, utilities and more. The Waterstone notes that it is pet friendly, has full concierge services and that experienced trainers staff the fitness center.
Burt said that Covid somewhat affected the construction process.
“We never shut down during Covid and we were always able to keep construction moving along, but the supply chains, the cost overruns, they were significant,” Burt said. “There are no two ways about it. Covid has had an impact. It delayed the actual opening of the building but we”™ve overcome that at this point. At one point we had 22 electricians out with Covid, so keeping the project going really was very challenging.”
Burt said she is very proud of the facility that has been created and credited Executive Director Lauren Freifeld with doing an outstanding job of assembling the staff. She said it is the 14th development for EPOCH since 2011.
“When we first were founded we were a skilled nursing company and in 2016 we left the skilled nursing business and have focused on just the new developments,” Burt said. “We have two more buildings under construction that we will be opening in May of ”˜22 and October of ”˜22.”
EPOCH Senior Living was founded in 1998 by Laurence Gerber who had been president and CEO of the Berkshire Group, a privately held firm with subsidiaries in long-term care, multifamily real estate and mortgage banking industries with more than $10 billion in assets under management
Burt said that she foresees the senior living market continuing to grow and there being plenty of demand that will absorb the new senior living units coming onto the market.
The Business Journals met two of the new residents at Waterstone, Joe and Lynn Halperin, who moved from Florida to be closer to their children in Westchester.
“We felt like we needed to have more socialization in an environment where people were getting together, where there was a sense of community,” Joe Halperin said. “We looked into a lot of options and this is one that appealed to us. We learned to downsize. It feels very comforting to be here.”
His wife Lynn added, “The people that work here are wonderful even though they”™re significantly younger than we are. I view them as my friends. The chef knows our idiosyncrasies and we don”™t even have to say anything to the waiter. He already knows what we don”™t eat and what we do eat.”
