Developer builds for seniors

With an estimated 1 million Americans currently dispersed among 39,500 assisted-living communities in the U.S., all signs point to the demand for these developments only increasing.

“The demand has never been greater,” said Frank Rose, president of RFR Consulting Group Inc., a suburban Albany firm serving the assisted-living industry.

Rose said the combination of rapid growth of the U.S. population between the ages of 80 and 85 and improved medical practices and technologies are boosting demand for assisted-living facilities. “Those forces all coming together indicate a growing need for people who will be living longer, who are frail but who are still generally healthy,” he said.

As that demand increases, so will the cost of rent at such communities, based on a 2010 survey of the long-term costs of care for the elderly by the MetLife Mature Market Institute.

The survey found the average base monthly rent for U.S. assisted living facilities was $3,293 in 2010, a 5.2-percent increase from the previous year. In New York, monthly rates topped the national average, at $3,701 for the state and $4,503 in New York City.

The Engel Burman Group, a Long Island developer that currently operates seven assisted living communities there, is looking to fill the increased demand for facilities in Westchester County. It plans to develop two communities at the former St. Agnes Hospital site at North Street in White Plains and at 90 Business Park Drive in Armonk.

 

At both facilities, rental rates would range from about $3,500 for a studio apartment to $6,500 for a two-bedroom apartment, with the average monthly rate of $4,500 similar to the New York City average.

 

In White Plains, Engel Burman plans a roughly $30-million renovation to the vacant 150,000-square-foot former hospital building on North Street. The developer is currently  applying to the city of White Plains for building permits, having already completed the zoning process and site development plans.

 

The North Street assisted living community, which likely will be called Sutton Court at White Plains, is a joint venture with North Street Community L.L.C., which initially paid $21.4 million for the entire 23-acre hospital property in 2004.

 

“This is our first foray into Westchester County,” said Steven Krieger, principal at Engel Burman. “We”™re taking the existing St. Agnes Hospital and doing a gut rehab job.”

 

Engel Burman expects to begin construction on the four-acre grounds this fall and hopes to open in the first quarter of 2013. The completed facility will contain 136 apartment units and 148 beds.

 

For the proposed Armonk site, which sits on a 6.5-acre office-park parcel, Engel Burman is seeking a zoning change to permit an assisted living community.

 

“Hopefully that will happen by the end of the year, and then we would start construction sometime in 2012,” Krieger said. Plans call for a 105,000-square-foot facility with approximately 140 rental units and 160 to 170 beds.

 

Krieger said that 50 to 75 new jobs would be created at each location.

 

“Typically, 30 percent of our buildings are common area,” Krieger said. “You”™re in a very loving, caring environment ”“ it”™s almost like living in a five-star hotel for seniors.”

Krieger dismissed the notion that cost would be an issue for residents at the two planned communities.
“We don”™t see that,” he said, citing the average cost of a home in Westchester County. “We cater to the local market, because that”™s who typically moves into our buildings.” He said 90 percent of Engel Burman”™s current residents either previously lived or have family members who reside within five miles of the facility.