Autumn Leaves has been getting a lot of press recently, from us and other news sources, as they seem to break ground on a new community every other week or so. On September 9, The LaSalle Group announced that Autumn Leaves of Stockbridge, Georgia was set to open in October (just outside of Atlanta). This announcement comes on the heels of one of their memory care communities opening recently in San Antonio (called Stone Oak), and another San Antonio Autumn Leaves community breaking ground on September 17, to be called Autumn Leaves of Westover Hills. The community in Stockbridge will be the company’s third in the Atlanta metro area (having locations in Sugarloaf and Towne Lake as well), but The LaSalle Group doesn’t plan on stopping in Atlanta either. According to Kay Adkins, Director of Development for The LaSalle Group, “[they] continue to look for additional locations and opportunities in the Atlanta MSA.”
Each Autumn Leaves community is typically built with 54 memory care units, and Adkins says this number has evolved over the years to find the best staffing ratio while providing the best service possible to its residents. The total development cost for Stockbridge is approximately $9.5 million ($175,926 per unit or $346 per square foot), and is financed by a regional bank. According to Adkins, “it will take around a year or so to fill the building,” since memory care is needs-based. But its rates are competitive with market rates.
Nicole Gray, Director of Design for The LaSalle Group, explained the design of the building and its tailoring to those in need of memory care. To create a better environment for its residents, Autumn Leaves uses the latest Alzheimer’s research to design its communities. Each of the four corridors in the building has a theme with a corresponding color, which acts as a “sight stimulator [that] is beneficial to [its] residents” and “help[s] keep a sense of their surroundings at all times,” according to Gray. Autumn Leaves also used “flooring transitions” to reduce the risk of trip hazards. Soothing sounds of nature play in the spa which “help calm [the] residents before they transition to bathing.” Among other design features, Autumn Leaves communities also have the state-of-the-art Vigil System, a motion sensor program in each resident’s private room that subtly alerts staff, if needed, and provides metrics to better show and improve the resident’s comfort level.
Expect to hear more from Autumn Leaves.
