The Jewish Association on Aging (JAA) has plans to renovate and expand its Squirrel Hill campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with new memory care residences, among other changes.
The effort, estimated to cost around $50 million over three phases, is aimed at preparing for the senior living customer of the future and giving them what they want and need, according to CEO Mary Anne Foley.
The project plans include adding 90 new units to the senior living campus while updating memory care in two existing buildings. The organization is pivoting away from nursing care with the move by converting the former nursing care space. Other updates will include updating interiors and landscaping..
The renovation includes 30 new units of personal care units for long-term care residents and 60 independent living units, Foley told Memory Care Business earlier this week.
The renovation plans come after the community grappled with similar headwinds following the Covid-19 pandemic, including high operating costs and stagnant Medicare reimbursement rates in nursing care.
“This has been almost a decade in planning and we had the vision we needed to have additional services on our campus,” Foley said. “We had a vision that we needed to recreate ourselves and senior living is changing and the needs of those coming to us are changing.”
The operator is converting a skilled nursing wing into a building with memory care on the first floor and personal care on the second and third floors. The community will include”state-of-the-art apartments,” and the work is adding private bathrooms, showers and updated finishes, Foley said.
The work is also meant to help provide an updated locale for the operator’s memory care program, which started eight years ago. Additions to the memory care spaces will include cosmetic improvements to brighten interiors and beautify landscaping and outdoor spaces.
The memory care program is supported by dementia care and treatment researcher Dr. John Zeisel and the Hopeful Aging curriculum.
The community’s independent living footprint is currently allocated for affordable senior housing, with new units to target middle-market senior living customers.
“Once this is all said and done, we will have that full continuum,” Foley said. “It’s going to be a different feel and a different look to meet the needs of today’s older adults seeking senior living services.”
Alongside the transformation of its urban campus, JAA will expand its home-based and community-based services, including home health, hospice services and outpatient therapy.
The JAA partnered with Continental Real Estate on the project, and a future fund raise effort will look to fuel the multi-phase construction project, while also evaluating traditional construction loan options. Presently, the organization is reviewing construction bids.
The organization has a goal to start initial demolition and construction of the modernized campus by the end of this year, with the personal care segment opening late in 2025 and independent living additions will come in phase two in 2027. But the timeline remains fluid, Foley said.
While not part of the multi-phase project at-present, Foley said JAA did leave the future option open to expand a portion of its campus for additional units, depending on how future demand shapes the community’s future.
“We felt that it was important that as we’re building these beautiful apartments for personal care, that we also revisit what needs to take place within Ahava [memory care],” Foley said.
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