PROJECT UPDATE: Grand Living at Tower Place
$52 million 'luxury' senior living facility to open in May in W.D.M.
KATHY A. BOLTEN Mar 16, 2021 | 7:14 pm
3 min read time
661 wordsAll Latest News, Real Estate and Development
Work is nearly complete on the five-story, 176-unit senior housing project called Grand Living at Tower Place, located at 540 S. 51st St. in West Des Moines. Photo below: The exterior of Grand Living at Tower Place includes a clock located on the upper part of a tower on a southwest corner of the building. Photos by John Retzlaff
WHAT: Grand Living at Tower Place, an independent and assisted living and memory care facility for senior citizens.
WHERE: 540 S. 51st St., West Des Moines
SPECIFICS: 230,000-square-foot building; 176 units
AMENITIES: Three restaurants, a library, a craft room, pet spa, massage rooms, a beauty salon, a 160-seat performance theater and rooms for doctors making rounds.
DEVELOPMENT COSTS: $52 million
CONTRACTOR/DEVELOPER: Ryan Cos.
DEVELOPER/FACILITY MANAGER: Grand Living
BACKGROUND and UPDATE: Construction work is nearly complete on the five-story, 176-unit Grand Living at Tower Place senior living community in West Des Moines.
Eric Anderson, senior vice president of real estate development-senior living for Ryan Cos., said he expects residents to begin moving into apartment facility in early May.
Grand Living at Tower Place is Minneapolis-based Ryan Cos.’ third senior living community in Iowa. The company previously completed similar projects in Coralville and Cedar Rapids. It describes the apartments as “luxury style” senior housing.
“It’s about providing a lifestyle, amenities and the ability to do something that you can’t do in most projects, and that’s actually age in place,” Anderson said. “Most of our competitors make [their residents] move to a different part of a building or separate building for assisted living.
“What we’ve done is licensed four of the five floors [at Tower Place] so that you’ll be able to age in place unless you need dementia care,” he said. “You’re not going to have to move.”
Ryan Cos. selected the West Des Moines site because of its proximity to a grocery store and other retail and because it’s near the interstate, Anderson said.
Ryan Cos. is partnering with Grand Living, a Minneapolis company that develops and manages senior living and health care communities. The company has projects in Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, Florida and Texas.
“We believe in their concept so much that we invested in [the company],” Anderson said.
Iowa has more than 337,000 residents who are considered baby boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, according to 2019 U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Half of those residents, or nearly 172,000 people, will be 65 by 2030.
In addition, 42% of the state’s baby boomers – about 141,300 people – live in Polk, Dallas, Story and Warren counties.During the past year, development of senior living projects in the U.S. has been slowed by the pandemic, Ferguson said. In addition, interest in moving to a senior living facility also waned, she said.
However, as an increasing number of people are getting vaccinated, “we’re seeing an uptick in the traffic at our communities and increased interest in moving in,” Ferguson said.
Anderson said about a dozen of the units at Grand Living at Tower Place have been leased. He expects that to increase once the facility receives its certificate of occupancy in late March or early April. Potential residents can’t tour the facility until the certificate is issued.
Grand Living at Tower Place will have about 100 employees, who will receive more than $5 million in wages and benefits annually, Anderson said.
“It’s not a small enterprise,” he said.
Project Update is a periodic Commercial Real Estate Weekly feature in which updates are provided on projects underway in the Greater Des Moines area. Want to include an update about your project or suggest a project to include? Email: kathybolten@bpcdm.com.
Trending News
