Having opened its second assisted living facility for seniors in Westchester this year, a Long Island developer is searching for a third location on which to build in a county where the company has seen little competition since entering the market five years ago.
Partners at The Engel Burman Group will host the grand opening Oct. 9 of The Bristal at Armonk, the Garden City real estate company”™s second assisted living facility in Westchester. Engel Burman in late 2012 opened The Bristal at White Plains, a 148-unit residence built from the shell of the former St. Agnes Hospital on North Street. Each project cost about $40 million to complete, said Steven Krieger, a founding partner at Engel Burman.
“I don”™t really know who the competition is” in Westchester for Engel Burman”™s two facilities, Krieger said. Another assisted living facility, The Kensington, opened two years ago in White Plains shortly before the Bristal opening there, but it provides more clinical support services than a traditional assisted living facility. Its residents “have a much higher acuity” of illnesses than do seniors at Bristal facilities, Krieger said.
“I don”™t think we have any competition in either market,” Krieger said of the two Westchester locations. The Garden City company operates nine Bristal-branded assisted living facilities on Long Island and one in Woodcliff Lake, N.J.
Real estate professionals and municipal officials in Westchester expect demand for assisted living facilities to rise, along with developers”™ proposals to adaptively reuse vacant or underleased commercial properties, as the affluent county”™s over-60 population rises 34 percent by 2030, according to Census Bureau projections.
Unlike its White Plains redevelopment, Engel Burman”™s Armonk facility was built from the ground up on a vacant commercial parcel at 90 Business Park Drive in the Westchester Business Park. The 3-story, 119,000-square-foot building includes 112 assisted-living residences. An additional 40 apartments are reserved for residents who require care for Alzheimer”™s disease or dementia on the facility”™s Reflections wing.
Emilio Di Siervi, executive director at The Bristal at Armonk, in September said 53 seniors had moved into the facility since its opening last March, including 8 couples and 16 residents in its memory care wing. The approximately 70-employee facility has a capacity for 171 residents.
Many residents come from Queens, the Bronx and New York City, Di Siervi said. Bristal at Armonk residents’ average age is about 82, five years younger that the national average for assisted living facilities, he said.
“I think what all the people here have in common is that they have kids in the area,” Di Siervi said. “The key here is that the children all live in Armonk.”
Krieger said residency patterns in Westchester are consistent with the national trend at assisted living facilities. He said 90 percent of residents either have lived within 5 miles of their chosen facility or have adult children living within 5 miles of the facility.
In Armonk, the BristalӪs amenities include an approximately 50-seat movie theater and a second 22-seat theater in the memory care wing, a fitness center, hair salon, arts and crafts studio where professional artists offer instruction, a bingo room, card and game room in a bistro setting, Internet caf̩, library, wellness center, private dining room for families, heated outdoor pool and activities center for visiting grandchildren.
Monthly rental rates start at $3,900 for a private room in a shared suite, $4,600 for a studio suite, $5,900 for a one-bedroom suite and $7,500 for a two-bedroom suite. A second person occupying a one- or two-bedroom suite pays an additional $1,250 monthly. Residents with Alzheimer”™s or dementia in the memory care program pay monthly rates starting at $6,800 for a private room in a shared suite or $7,500 for a studio suite.
Additional fees charged according to levels of personal care assistance range from $17.50 to $81 per day.
Krieger said the Long Island developer is looking at properties near the Tappan Zee Bridge in the Rivertowns for the site of its next assisted living facility. “We have to find the right location over there,” he said.
