A new independent living facility for seniors in Kalispell is filling up quickly, according to project leaders.
Immanuel Lutheran Communities announced that its new residences at The Villas at Buffalo Hill are already over 50 percent booked by deposits.
The expansion is slated to break ground in summer 2017 and is expected to be completed by late 2018.
Immanuel Lutheran Communities is undergoing a major redevelopment and expansion. The first phase of the five-phase campus expansion will begin spring 2016 with new assisted-living care and increasing the rooms at The Retreat, a wing built about three years ago with 16 rooms designed for short-stay patients needing physical, occupational, and speech therapies.
The Villas at Buffalo Hill, which is already half filled up, will include 35 new independent living residences, 24 assisted living apartment residences for individuals with memory loss, a pool, fitness center, coffee bar and lounge. The total cost for the project has been estimated at $45 million.
“We knew a growing need existed for high-quality senior living options, and these numbers are a confirmation of that fact,” said Jason Cronk, CEO of Immanuel Lutheran Communities. “With the recent approval of the Kalispell City Council to issue revenue bonds for our first phase of construction, we will begin work in the coming weeks, and our depositors will have the opportunity to begin to see their future take shape right before their eyes.”
Each phase is expected to take about a year, Cronk said, and will be completed in succession. Other expansions include The Terraces Commons, with a coffee bar and lounge and covered entrance attached to the existing Terraces, expected to be finished in 2017. That section will then connect to an area with a swimming pool, chapel, auditorium, fitness center, exercise studio and salon/day spa, with a finish date in late 2018.
According to the draft Montana State Plan on Aging from the Department of Public Health and Human Services, about 16 percent of the state’s population is made up of people 65 and older.
This is a 2 percent increase in this population subset in the last five years, and puts Montana in the top five rankings for the oldest state in the country.
Immanuel Lutheran Communities is a nonprofit organization offering independent residential living, assisted living, memory support, rehabilitation services and skilled nursing care in Kalispell. Operating since 1957, Immanuel Lutheran states that its philosophy is to provide a faith-based environment to enrich the lives of older adults.