Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Croy Foundation hires retirement advisor

Group explores needs for extended care facilities


By MATT FURBER
Express Staff Writer

Members of the Croy Canyon Ranch Foundation are looking to determine whether cocktail-hour conversations about the apparent need for a retirement and assisted-living facility in the Wood River Valley holds any water. At issue is determining what mix of services and what kind of debt load the community will support, said Dan Drackett, foundation president.

In an effort to develop a solid business plan to present to financiers, the nonprofit foundation is looking to Greystone Communities Inc., a nationally recognized extended-care developer from Irving, Texas, to flesh out what mix of services the community will actually support.

Greystone Chairman Mike Lanahan told the foundation's board last week in his first of 15 45-minute interviews that his company usually works in larger markets. But, he said that at first glance the prospect of developing a community facility with independent living, assisted living and nursing care with an affordable housing component could be built locally.

Drackett said Lanahan blitzed through the valley last week speaking with politicians, health care workers, fund-raisers, developers and real estate brokers to get a first glimpse at prospects for carrying out a development program. His company would build the facility and hand it over to American Baptist Homes of the West as the long-term manager. The company uses the acronym ABHOW because it no longer has a religious affiliation.

To date, the foundation has considered the Croy Canyon Ranch, about two miles west of Hailey, as the ideal location for the facility.

To finance the project, the foundation is looking to The Ziegler Companies Inc., out of Scottsdale, Ariz. Ziegler in turn recommended Greystone as the developer.

"They said if we can get Greystone we will have a really all-star team," Drackett said. "Now they all just have to figure out what truly works."

Drackett added that a philanthropic report from the San Francisco-based fund-raising consultants The Greenwood Company indicates that there should be "tremendous financial support" in the Wood River Valley for such a facility.

Lanahan said to be successful the facility should have a high-occupancy rate from day one.

Drackett added that if the planners can figure out what works locally they might have a model that can be used in other upscale communities like Santa Barbara, Calif., or West Palm Beach, Fla.

Drackett said Lanahan "was thrilled with the quality of our board of directors and he also seemed encouraged that so many very important people were willing to drop every thing and talk to him. This is the first step in a very methodical fact-finding mission."

According to research already done by Texas-based Moore Diversified Services, Inc., by the end of 2006 there will be 94 people in the retirement and assisted-living market needing various forms of care and 50 percent of those people could come from elsewhere.

Unlike places like Scottsdale, where seniors flock from around the country for retirement, in the Wood River Valley those who come from out of the area often already have a link to the community.

"It is absolutely essential to plan this thing from the get-go as a very efficient small business so (Lanahan) can present it to financiers as viable business model," Drackett said.

As part of the transition to a new facility, Blaine County has pledged the proceeds of the eventual sale of the Blaine Manor senior center to the project. Blaine Manor residents at the time of the transition would be moved to the new facility and the county would be out of the business of managing such a facility.

"I think it's going to end up being an important model because we have the very best people working on it," Drackett said.

The foundation board will meet Jan. 17 when they expect to receive a full report from Greystone on how the community should proceed.




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