A River Runs Through It: Navigating Complex Challenges To Expand Senior Living Developments

There are more than 75 million baby boomers in the U.S., and it is estimated that the country needs hundreds of thousands of additional senior housing options to meet their needs. 

While the demand may be strong, the process of building these facilities can be complex, especially when the goal is to expand the number of units on an existing campus. 

“A lot of senior living campuses have been established for some time, so they are surrounded by other developments,” said Joel Kelps, senior project manager for Chicago-based general contractor Leopardo Construction. “This puts space within the existing campus at a premium.” 

Building new projects on these campuses will involve either demolishing existing buildings or purchasing adjacent land, he said. Additionally, the project will need to be broken into multiple phases to ensure that residents still have access to all the services the community provides during construction. 

In some extreme cases, the process may even involve relocating a stream. 

That was the situation Kelps and his team found themselves in when they embarked on a complex expansion project at Covenant Living of Northbrook, a senior living community in Northbrook, Illinois. Leopardo has been working with Covenant Living for more than 20 years, so the company was a natural choice to build three independent living buildings, called Carriage Homes, onto the 55-acre campus. 

Along with building the new apartment homes, the project involved connecting the existing buildings with new walkways and a renovation of most of the public areas in the town center building, which also gained an addition for new dining areas. To make room for the Carriage Homes, adjacent property was purchased and rezoned, and one single-family home and one older independent living building were demolished.

Additionally, a stream governed by the Army Corps of Engineers that cuts through the construction site needed to be relocated to continue with the project. The Leopardo team had to temporarily reroute the water around the project and then build a new path for the stream while making sure that when it rains the water can still work its way around the site and continue downstream. 

“A lot of effort went into this, especially considering that the stream has been known to overflow and back up into people's properties and their basements,” Kelps said. “We did a lot to try to address those concerns during construction, and it helped establish our reputation in the neighborhood. In the end, we actually improved the ability for this stream to overflow onto Covenant property and not adversely affect the neighbors.”

Today’s senior living residents expect higher-end units with multiple bedrooms, large living spaces and nicer finishes, Kelps said. 

“Most residents are coming from large, single-family homes into these apartments,” he said. “They are used to having a lot of control over the look and feel of their living spaces. We are seeing senior living organizations give incoming residents a lot of flexibility — this isn’t just picking out the wall colors and flooring selections. Residents have the ability to customize their apartments to their preferences.” 

Leopardo worked with Covenant Living to bring these expectations in the expanded development — collaborating with the client from the very beginning on construction budgeting — and the Leopardo team will see it through till the end and beyond. 

Kelps and his team worked closely with Covenant Living leadership to build the project in phases to better manage disruption to the residents, he said. Regular communication with both the owners and residents is key to building trust when working on these types of developments, he said. The team meets formally with the owner every week on-site, but conversations are happening every day with campus leadership and residents. 

“We are working in someone’s home,” Kelps said. “If someone was working in your home, you would want them to take every precaution possible and demonstrate that they care. We do our best to make residents feel like part of the team. This involves making openings into the renovation space so they can see what is happening and inviting them to sign the final steel beam before it’s installed.”

Leopardo also holds a monthly resident meeting where the team highlights construction progress, with many pictures of progress or drone videos over the campus, and what work is coming up that could impact the residents. These meetings conclude with a question-and-answer discussion.

The goal, Kelps said, is not only to ensure that Leopardo is doing everything it can to provide a smooth transition for owners and residents, but also to show that the company cares about their experience.

“We encourage this open dialogue so we know how to improve and what information is important for us to share at the next meeting,” Kelps said. “We also stay after the meeting so residents who aren’t comfortable sharing their thoughts in a group setting can do so on a one-on-one basis. We have found that all of these steps during the project reinforce to the owner and residents that Leopardo cares about them.” 

This article was produced in collaboration between Leopardo and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.