by Peter Corbett – Feb. 24, 2012 09:18 AM
The Republic | azcentral.com
Senior housing continues to be an active part of the Scottsdale real estate market with the opening this week of an assisted-living center and another senior resort coming this summer.
Belmont Village Scottsdale is a three-story, 100,000-square-foot senior-housing community with 136 units southeast of 100th Street and Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard. Its first residents moved in this week and a grand opening is set for Saturday.
The contemporary design with bright lighting and colors follows Houston-based Belmont’s concepts developed in its previous 20 communities in seven states.
“We give equal weight to form and function,” said Patricia Will, Belmont chief executive.
Belmont Village Scottsdale includes wider hallways to hasten mobility for residents in wheelchairs or using walkers, smaller-scale chairs with sturdy arms that make it easier to stand up and even large-type computer keyboards and telephones for easier reading.
The new senior community is one of a handful of developments that have emerged in the last two years in the Northeast Valley with more than 1,000 housing units.
Arte and Vi at Silverstone, both in Scottsdale, and Sagewood in Phoenix all opened in 2010.
Sagewood, a resort-style senior community southwest of Tatum and Mayo boulevards, opened its villas this week. The development is a joint venture of Life Care Services of Des Moines, Iowa, and the Westminster Funds.
Sagewood’s units of 1,837 to 1,907 square feet are priced from $802,300 to $860,500 with 80 percent of that buy-in fee refunded to a resident’s estate.
Maravilla plans May opening
Another resort-style community, Maravilla Scottsdale, is scheduled for completion in May just west of the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess resort. Developed by the Senior Resource Group of San Diego, it will have 217 residences, including 36 assisted-living units and 24 memory-care units on a 25-acre site.
Maravilla’s 900-square-foot independent-living residence has an initial buy-in fee of about $240,000 plus a $1,900 monthly fee for meals and other services. Residents can also pay more up front, about $481,000, for that same residence but 90 percent of that buy-in fee is refundable.
Belmont Village, which is on a 4.17-acre site with a courtyard pool and a walking path, has no buy-in fee. Month-to-month fees start at $3,390 and most residents will pay between $4,000 to $5,000 for a studio or one-bedroom unit depending on their services, said Debbie Whipple, Belmont Village Scottsdale executive director.
The community includes 25 units for residents with Alzheimer’s disease or dimentia. Belmont also provides special care and activities for residents with mild-cognitive impairment.
Belmont will have a staff of about 65 workers initially and up to 100 when it’s fully occupied, Whipple said. That includes licensed nurses, who are on duty 24 hours per day to provide medications and monitor insulin treatment.
Social activities emphasized
Belmont offers Josephine’s Kitchen, a restaurant-style dining area for daily meals. and the Bistro, where residents can pick up their mail and gather for snacks, coffee and tea.
The Bistro is designed to encourage residents to get out of their apartment to socialize, said Belmont spokeswoman Julie Walke.
Belmont also offers fitness classes, a wellness center, library, pool tables and a shaded courtyard.
The building was designed by Morris Architects and built by W.E. O’Neil Construction Company of Arizona.
The adjacent 6.7-acre property is zoned for a neighborhood shopping center. Nathan & Associates has a sales listing for the site.
