Ecumen an innovative non-profit senior housing, services and development company, is expanding in the Twin Cities. In January it broke ground on its second senior housing community in Apple Valley and will manage The Seasons at Maplewood.

This will bring the total number of Ecumen-operated communities in Minnesota to 34. This also expands Ecumen’s presence in Apple Valley and Maplewood. Ecumen owns the senior housing communities of Centennial House in Apple Valley and Lakeview Commons in Maplewood. The Seasons at Maplewood and the new Ecumen community in Apple Valley will be market-rate housing. Both construction projects are financed with HUD (Housing and Urban Development) 232 financing.

The Seasons at Maplewood is owned by Michael Pint, former senior vice president and chief financial officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and Minnesota commissioner of banks under Governor Al Quie.

“We greatly enjoy being part of the Apple Valley and Maplewood communities and are looking forward to bringing more high-quality housing and services to area residents,” said Steve Ordahl, Ecumen’s senior vice president of business development. “These sites will be very appealing, convenient places to live.”

“We have a highly skilled team developing The Seasons at Maplewood, and we’re pleased to complete that team by partnering with Ecumen, which brings substantial expertise in senior housing and services,” said Pint.

Ecumen shares insights and expertise on its senior housing development blog.

The $27 million Apple Valley community is anticipated to open in early 2011. The 220,500 square foot community will have 134 apartments on four levels, including 106 one- and two-bedroom independent living and assisted living apartments, where residents can add a la carte supportive services as they want them. A memory care neighborhood will feature 14 apartments, as will an enhanced care neighborhood for residents with more intensive care needs.

The new Ecumen community will be located at 15359 Founders Lane in the 60-acre Central Village development, a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood in Apple Valley that will include a variety of high-density housing, retail, office, restaurant, and other uses. Amenities at the Ecumen community will include a movie theater, pub, café for casual dining, main dining room, private dining room, gardening room, arts studio, fitness center, library, education room, and more.

Construction of The Seasons at Maplewood began last fall and the community is slated to open early this fall. It is located at 3030 Kennard Street North near Maplewood Mall and St. John’s Hospital. The 130,000 square-foot community will have 150 apartments on four levels. These will include 120 one- and two-bedroom independent living and assisted living apartments. Similar to the Ecumen Apple Valley community, residents can add a la carte supportive services as they want them. A memory care neighborhood will have 15 apartments as will an enhanced care neighborhood. Amenities will include a movie theater, fitness center, arts studio, restaurant, private dining room, café, and more.

The Maplewood leasing office will open February 15th, 2010, and people can contact that office at 952-224-4994. Priority Club reservations will be taken beginning March 1st. In return for a $100 refundable membership fee, members will receive invites to special events prior to the opening and a priority choice of floor plans.

Ecumen, which is based in Shoreview, Minn., is the most innovative senior housing and services leader, empowering individuals to live richer and fuller lives. It operates in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota and Idaho. Ecumen envisions a world in which aging is viewed and understood in radically different ways. It has been named five straight years as one of Minnesota’s “Best Places to Work” by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Ecumen blogs about changing aging on its Changing Aging blog.

Forest City Enterprises, Inc., (NYSE:FCEA) recently announced that one of the company’s subsidiaries has closed the sale of its partnership interests in three supported-living apartment communities to a subsidiary of Hyatt Corporation. The three properties, all of which operate under the Classic Residence by Hyatt brand, are located in Teaneck, N.J., Chevy Chase, Md., and Yonkers, N.Y., and have a total of 869 supported-living rental units.  Units of Forest City and Hyatt have been partners in the properties since their initial development and Forest City expects to receive proceeds of approximately $30 million from the sale.

“This sale is part of our ongoing strategic exit as a company from the supported-living segment of the residential multifamily market,” said Charles A. Ratner, Forest City president and chief executive officer. “It’s also another step in our efforts to capture value – and generate liquidity – from within our portfolio. We’ve had a long and productive partnership with Classic Residence by Hyatt, and we salute their continued leadership in senior living.”

Atherton Baptist Homes celebrated the ground breaking of its newest development the Courtyard last week.  The development, located in the San Gabriel Valley, will consist of 50 luxurious, independent living apartments with underground parking on a 15 acre campus. Located in Alhambra, California, the Courtyard community will feature two and three stories of spacious apartment homes with a variety of floor plans and amenities. The project financed with tax-exempt bonds and designed and built by The Haskell Company of Jacksonville, FL, is expected to take about 14 months to complete.

“The Courtyard represents the most ambitious building project in our 96-year history. Both in size and scope, it is simply breathtaking. Out staff and board are united in believing that this is what seniors are calling for in the next generation of retirement living,” said Dr. Dennis E. McFadden, President and CEO Atherton Baptist Homes.

The Del Webb division of Pulte Homes recently announced a “preview” of the results of its 2010 Del Webb Baby Boomer Survey. In late 2009, Pulte Homes conducted a survey among different baby boomer populations that were at the company’s own facilities.  The survey included input from younger boomers turning age 50 in 2010 and older boomers turning age 64 in 2010.  The most important considerations in selection of retirement housing from the respondents were cost of living and healthcare.  The results showed that interest in age-restricted appears to peak after age 50 and those that are planning to move again, almost 10 to 1 indicated a preference for an age restriction in their next choice for housing.

The survey showed some of the following:

• About 1/3 of Baby Boomers plan to move to a new home during retirement.
• The desire to move during retirement is on the rise as 42% of today’s 50-year-olds plan to do so as compared to 36% among the 1996 50-year-olds.
• Approximately 50% of both age groups who plan to move during retirement plan to move to a different state while about 25% of them plan to move to a different city within the same state.
• The Carolinas are the New Florida among both the younger and older Baby Boomers.  Florida, Tennessee and Arizona also remain Top contenders.
• 50-year-old’s ranking of where to move: S. Carolina (20%), N. Carolina (16%), Florida (15%), Tennessee (9%), Arizona (8%), California (8%), and Virginia (8%).
• 64-year-old’s ranking of where to move: N. Carolina (19%), S. Carolina (16%), Florida (15%), Tennessee (12%), Virginia (10%), Arizona (6%), and California (6%).

2010 Del Webb Baby Boomer Survey

Don’t have time to read the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2011?  That’s ok.  The budget released presents an overview of the Obama administration’s 2011 priorities and is a draft that remains short on details in many respects.  With healthcare reform still on the negotiating table, the White House estimates that the cost will be $16 billion this year and $743 over the next 10 years.  Some scary numbers are that mandatory outlays for Medicare under existing law are $489.3 billion and $264.5 billion for Medicaid.  According to the budget, spending on Medicare and Medicaid is set to rise by $58 billion between 2010 and 2011.  Below are some interesting related components to senior living we thought were worth summarizing:

• Affordable Housing – Department of Housing and Urban Development
• FHA is projecting insurance of $223 billion in single family forward mortgages and $30 billion in Home Equity Conversion Program (HECM) with an additional $148 billion in commitment limitation available in case these amounts are exceeded during execution.  The administration is projecting the reverse mortgage industry will endorse 120,429 units in 2010 and 119,953 units in 2011.
• Jobs Programs – Take your pick on the where…real estate, in-home care…Obama just wants more jobs
• Elder Care – Aid Working Adults in Caring For their families (page 4)
• Elimination of fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid (page 4)
• HUD – Housing for Elderly Cuts, $825 million in 2010 down to $274 million in 2011 (page 4)

RESEDA, Calif. — In an ongoing effort to save valuable resources and direct all available funds to life-enhancing programs for the neediest elderly, the Los Angeles Jewish Home is offering electronic distribution for its four in-house publications.  Since the launch of its revamped website last summer, the non-profit Jewish Home has been electronically publishing a monthly e-Newsletter with updates about the Home and its services and a monthly Top Ten List addressing healthy aging trends and advice.  Now the Home is adding its two long-running publications – Jewish Home News and Annual Report – to its roster of email subscriptions.

By registering online, recipients can switch their preferred format from mail to email and, at any point in the future, use their email address to log in and update their subscriptions.  New subscribers can also sign up for any or all of the publications to stay in touch with the Home and stay informed about the latest trends and techniques for successful aging.  The full-color PDF versions of the publications are easy to open, browse, and search.  Jewish Home News, packed with features, interviews, and profiles, can be enjoyed anywhere in the world.  Users can even print individual pages and forward the News to a friend.  Current issues of all four publications and archives from the previous year are available for viewing or downloading.

Online registration also helps conserve expenses and protect the environment.  Joining the Home’s efforts to go green reduces the amount of printing done and saves much-needed water.  Manufacturing just one sheet of paper uses five gallons of water.  ”Together, we’ll be preserving precious resources, providing a fine example for our children and grandchildren, and improving the care of our senior community,” says Jewish Home’s CEO-President Molly Forrest.  To enroll, visit the Home’s website at www.jha.org and click on Go Green.

Founded in 1912, the world-renowned Los Angeles Jewish Home is one of the foremost multi-level senior living communities in the United States and the largest single-source provider of senior housing in Los Angeles. In total, the Home annually serves more than 1,700 seniors through our extraordinary continuum of services. Each year, more than 1,200 women and men are cared for in-residence on two village campuses, with services including independent-living “Neighborhood Home” accommodations, residential care, skilled nursing care, short-term rehabilitative care, acute psychiatric care, and Alzheimer’s disease and dementia care. Another 500 seniors are served through the Home’s community-based programs, which includes Skirball Hospice and community clinics. The Home is a non-profit organization that relies upon donations from individuals, corporations and foundations to continue its remarkable work. Further information regarding the Home can be found online at www.jha.org or by calling (818) 757-4407.

By Laura Ruane

Shell Point retirement community is something of a real estate hybrid: a nice place to live with varying levels of health care built in.

It’s also the last move many of its residents will make.

Shell Point’s activities-with-health care formula has worked well at the waterfront community south of Fort Myers for 42 years, but the national recession has slowed sales.

Community leaders are responding by temporarily discounting one-time entrance fees, holding flat monthly charges over the past year — and encouraging residents to field questions from prospective new neighbors.

Shell Point holds its annual open house Thursday. A new feature this year: “ask-a-resident booths” scattered throughout the 700-acre community.

“The interest level probably never has been greater. We provide security in an environment where there is none,” said Peter Dys, president of the nonprofit community that’s wholly owned by a Christian alliance.

However, “the sale of homes (elsewhere) is going to have to occur, to break the logjam,” Dys noted.

Some people are stuck in homes that they need to sell in order to afford entry into Shell Point. Also, many stock portfolios are worth considerably less following the market meltdown a year ago last fall.

“Adequacy of funds seems to be the issue” among consumers, Dys said.

People with million-dollar homes now worth about half that might go ahead, and commit to buying into Shell Point, despite their lower net worth. Those of more modest means, perhaps owning one home formerly worth $100,000, but now valued at the $50,000 range, might find the community’s financial qualifiers too steep, Dys noted.

Senior housing holds up

The recession might delay some demand for new adult housing products; however, it won’t destroy it, said David Schless, president of the American Seniors Housing Association based in Washington.

“As a general rule, senior housing has held up quite well in the past 24 months or so,” Schless said. “The preponderance of seniors have been in their homes 25, 30 years or more. They’re in a different place than those who bought their homes in 2006. They’ve still seen a tremendous amount of appreciation in their homes’ value.”

Shell Point and other continuing care communities thoroughly review incoming residents’ finances, because they make promises for care that they are morally and legally obliged to keep.

Continuing care communities offer a continuum of services, including independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing, as residents need it.

Entrance fees and monthly charges can be substantial: At Shell Point entrance fees range from $88,000 to $500,000 per person, with a much lower charge for a second member of the household. Monthly maintenance fees range between $1,100 and $4,000. That does not include out-of-pocket expenses, such as groceries and/or optional meal plans, prescriptions and phone service.

People don’t own homes or property at Shell Point; they purchase use of housing in one of three neighborhoods. Units range in size from 470-square-foot studio apartments to three-bedroom condominium homes exceeding 2,300 square feet.

Many people must sell their homes and some other assets to afford life at Shell Point. In exchange, they get the medical and housekeeping services they require as they advance in age.

They also get access to resort-like amenities, activities and clubs populated by the community’s more than 2,200 residents.

‘Gift’ to children

“We felt this was a gift we could give our children, so they wouldn’t have to worry about us as we get older,” said semi-retired church worker Peter Nanfelt. He and wife Jerry, both 72, moved to Shell Point in 2007.

“Everybody probably took a hit when the stock market dropped so badly,” Peter Nanfelt said, adding: “I don’t think we’ve seen a lot of people (at Shell Point) struggling to meet their monthly expenses.”

To help ease the financial pain of entry, Shell Point has responded by not raising monthly maintenance fees over the past year — and by offering temporary discounts of up to 25 percent on the onetime entrance fee.

Contract choices

In part because more people are purchasing long-term care insurance, Shell Point has expanded the menu of contracts from the original standard life care to include a modified life care contract with lower entrance fees and monthly fees.

The trade-off? With the latter deal, residents themselves pick up the cost of skilled nursing care, at private pay rates, if they need such care.

A third contract option offers a 100 percent refund of the entrance fee upon death or contract cancellation. This contract does not include assisted living or skilled nursing, but provides access to those services at Shell Point, at private pay rates.

The community has a 93 percent occupancy-and-drawing-revenue rate, Dys said. That’s down from a pre-recession 97 percent or higher rate, but still better than the comparable statewide rate, which Dys estimated to be about 83-84 percent.

Upgrades point to the community’s financial strength. Improvements made in the past 18 months include:

• Completion of a five-year, $23 million-plus renovation of its skilled nursing facility;
• Completion of a $4-million-plus renovation of its Kings Crown assisted living facility, one of two in the community; and
• The start one month ago of a $3.5 million rehabilitation center addition to the skilled nursing home.