The Gatesworth senior living community in St. Louis recently marked a milestone in the development of the latest addition to the 15-acre Gatesworth campus with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the new three-story, 102,000-square-foot McKnight Place Assisted Living expansion.
Featuring 90 new, upscale apartment homes, the new building debuts with an 80 percent occupancy rate, and will contribute to the creation of an additional 90 to 100 new jobs on The Gatesworth campus, which now encompasses more than 1 million square feet.
The newly completed expansion is designed to increase capacity, while also offering larger apartments and more floor plan options that include roomy suites and one-bedroom apartments with kitchenettes. Assisted living apartments feature four floor plans ranging in size from 376 to 783 square feet.
All apartments in the new building offer a host of upscale amenities, including entry foyers with wood style flooring; crown molding; kitchens with brushed glazed wood cabinets, granite countertops, and full-sized refrigerators; spacious, luxuriously appointed bathrooms; nine and 10-foot ceilings; loads of natural light featuring large Pella windows; ample closet space and ducted heating and cooling systems with individual thermostats in each apartment.
Additional amenities within the new building’s common areas include a new assisted living entrance; a community living room and lounge area with a view over the beautifully landscaped courtyard featuring a fountain; an elegant main floor dining room, café bistro and a private dining room; a large fitness/wellness gym; a 45-seat theater/chapel; card rooms; a billiard room; a full-service beauty salon; an art room; a greenhouse, and landscaped gardens with pergolas and a fountain.
All of the new amenities enhance the existing robust schedule of entertainment, activities and social outings, while residents will also be able to continue to enjoy the supportive services that make life easier and more convenient, including on-site physical and occupational therapy and nursing care, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There will be a licensed nurse on site 24 hours a day.
The addition is part of a $32 million expansion of McKnight Place Assisted Living that is unfolding in two phases. With the first phase completed, work is now ramping up on the second phase, which includes a complete renovation of the existing 74,000-square-foot McKnight Place Assisted Living building.
Upon completion in March 2018, the renovated space will feature 18 additional assisted living apartments and the debut of dedicated memory care at McKnight Place. Twenty-seven separate memory care apartments will be accessed via a separate memory care entrance for residents with cognitive impairments, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s.
The McKnight Place expansion will increase the footprint of The Gatesworth campus to over 1 million square feet and further enhance the comprehensive level of the continuum of care services available to the residents. Within the 15-acre Gatesworth campus, seniors will have access to independent living options at The Gatesworth, as well as extended care, assisted living and memory care services through McKnight Place.
“The Gatesworth campus has always been a sought-after retirement community, and with this new expansion, we are now able to meet the needs of more seniors than ever before,” said Charles Deutsch, co-owner of The Gatesworth. “The new and renovated buildings expand our capacity to provide more of the all-inclusive, high-quality services McKnight Place has come to be known for over the past 25 years.”
Serving as general contractor on the project is GateCo Development. Chris Leonard, VP of Development and Construction for GateCo, leads a team of senior housing development experts that handles all new construction and renovation projects within The Gatesworth campus.
Additional members of the project team include the Lawrence Group which is serving as architect; the Sterling Company, which is handling civil engineering; Alper Audi, Inc., which is handing structural engineering; Jarrell Mechanical Contractors, which is the Mechanical Design-Build Contractor; Guarantee Electrical, which is the Electrical Design-Build Contractor; Plumbing Planning Corp. which is the Plumbing Design-Build Contractor; and Ahern Fire Protection, which is serving as the Fire Protection Design-Build Contractor. Funding for the project comes in the form of financing from Greystone Mortgage of Manhattan, NY, and a HUD-insured mortgage.