A Ketchum-based development group is pursuing plans to build a “continuing care retirement community” near St. Luke’s Magic Valley Medical Center in Twin Falls. The location for the facility is shown by the large dot at the top-center of this aerial photograph.
Courtesy photo by Idaho Airships |
A Ketchum-based development group is closing in on a plan to build a 70-unit “continuing care retirement community” near St. Luke’s Magic Valley Medical Center in Twin Falls.
“Things are really smoking along,” Ketchum-area resident Peter Candy said Wednesday.
Candy, along with other investors, is in the process of forming a limited liability company to purchase a six-acre parcel and construct the facility just south of Pole Line Road and west of St. Luke’s Magic Valley. The project is estimated to cost about $10 million.
“It’s going together rather rapidly,” Candy said. “We’re now in escrow on the property and expect to close by September.”
Details of the proposed facility were outlined in a news release issued earlier this month by Ketchum real estate broker Paul Kenny, of Paul Kenny & Matt Bogue Commercial Real Estate. Kenny, who is serving as real estate broker for Candy and his investment group, said Wednesday that he will also be involved in marketing the project.
Site improvements are expected to begin in September and construction is planned to start in November. Construction is expected to be finished in late November of 2015. Marketing of the facility is planned to begin in May 2015.
Candy said he and Kenny are working with the city of Twin Falls to obtain a conditional use permit. Design work is also under way for the site and the facilities.
Candy said the development group is also working with surrounding landowners for improvements to the area, including extensions of West Chaney Drive and Field Stream Way and installation of sewer, water, pressure irrigation and ground drainage systems.
The plan includes building 20 independent-living cottages of various sizes and configurations, 30 assisted-living units and 20 “memory care” units. While primarily a retirement community for both independent elderly people and elderly people needing some assistance, Candy said the community’s memory care facility will be for people with memory problems from both health- and accident-related causes.
The development is planned to also include a commercial kitchen with three separate dining areas, a multi-purpose/crafts room, a beauty salon, a large foyer for guests and office spaces for administrative, medical-record-keeping and marketing functions.
According to the news release, a second phase for expansion of the facility is under consideration on an adjoining 4.77-acre parcel.
Candy said the facility will be operated by TanaBell Health Services, a professional health care company based in Pocatello. TanaBell currently owns and manages Copper Summit Assisted Living in Pocatello, Quinn Meadows Rehabilitation in Pocatello and McCall Rehabilitation in McCall.
Candy said information on the project was released locally because of a shortage of retirement facility options for people living in Blaine County.
“I think Paul wanted people in our community to know this is happening,” Candy said. “Paul wanted people to know that a brand-new facility is going into Twin Falls and that they can plan for it. People need to know about it and it gives them an option for future care.”
Kenny said the development group initially looked at building a facility in Blaine County but determined that the Twin Falls site was a better option.
“I think it really has to do with the availability of quality sites,” Kenny said. “We looked around a lot up here and we just couldn’t come up with the right site. The right site has a lot to do with the success of a facility, not only the location but with the cost.”
With a shortage of retirement facility options in Blaine County, Kenny said the development group’s Twin Falls project is “suitable for people up here now.”
“We’re still close enough for people to visit with their families from Ketchum,” Kenny said.
Meanwhile, construction is moving forward on a planned 80-bed nursing facility in Bellevue that will be owned and operated by Pocatello-based Safe Haven Healthcare. Plans for the Bell Mountain Village facility include 16 private skilled-nursing units, 24 semi-private skilled-nursing units and 30 units of assisted living in a 48,000-square-foot building on the corner of Spruce and Sixth streets.
