It’s unusual to see a metro area with a population of nearly a million increase its number of assisted living units by over 30%, in a year. Nevertheless, Fresno, California is looking to add 364 new assisted living units to the city’s existing 579 units, or a 63% increase, (according to NIC MAP) by 2015. A report from Central California Institute for Healthy Aging expects the senior population aged 65 and up to grow considerably in the next five to 10 years, as seniors wishing to retire in California may see Fresno as a less expensive option compared with the rest of the state. Governor Brown recently complicated matters as well, by cutting funding to taxpayer-backed redevelopment agencies, meaning that as affordable housing options dry up and California real estate prices rise, the more affordable Fresno area may become even more appealing for retirees still looking to enjoy the California lifestyle.
Right now, there are four communities set to open or under construction in the Fresno area that will add 364 new assisted living and memory care units and extensively renovate a popular CCRC in the area.
Carmel Village at Clovis, owner/operator Frontier Management’s first assisted living community in the area, is set to open soon with 107 assisted living apartments, and will add 48 memory care units and 30 assisted living cottages in Phase Two of construction. Frontier operates communities across the West and in Illinois, and worked with Bryan Glover, an independent commercial financer of senior living properties, to develop the community. Rates will start at $3,200 a month, which include supportive health services. But, residents will have plenty of amenities, like a movie theater, salon and pub, and they will even brew their own beer, make wine and press olives grown on the property to make olive oil.
Another luxury retirement community, Oakmont of Fresno, is under construction and will open next year. Developed by Oakmont Senior Living, which saw an absence of senior living in northwest Fresno, the 75,000 square-foot community will have 56 assisted living and 23 memory care apartments, ranging from 400 to 1,200 square feet, and will feature high ceilings, crown molding and spacious bathrooms.
A collaboration between Paintbrush LLC and Ponderosa Communications Group is constructing an assisted living community in Fresno, with 100 units, 25 of which will be for residents in need of memory care. Paintbrush Senior Living, scheduled to open in summer 2015, was designed by Douglas Pancake Architects, and will cost an estimated $11.8 million, or a very reasonable $118,200 per unit.
And finally, a popular (and the only) CCRC in the area, The Terraces at San Joaquin Gardens, recently completed their $120 million renovation of the community, which offers 398 units in a continuum of care from independent to assisted living, memory care, skilled nursing and short-term rehab. Included in the project, the community, working with Greystone and American Baptist Homes of the West, also opened in February of this year a new 86-unit IL building. The CCRC, which was renovated to look like a Tuscan resort, works with tenants from every economic level. It looks like IL demand is strengthening in this post-recession environment.
