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Senior living communities are popping up along highways and in suburban neighborhoods to serve an aging population, but in a medical office park?
What better place, asks veteran Monroe developer Carlton Tyson, who has nurtured the idea of a retirement community at Metro Medical Campus since his company started the park eight years ago.
Physicians would be within walking distance of residents, and a full range of medical services would be available at Carolinas Medical Center-Union across U.S. 74 near U.S. 601 in Monroe.
Tyson's idea is about to come to fruition through a venture between his Hilltop Partners and retirement center developers Gene Vaughan and Frank Turner in partnership with Grace Management Inc. of Minneapolis.
They're planning what they believe could be Union County's Next Big Thing: Metro Plaza, a four-story, 122-unit independent living community for active seniors age 65 and older.
Diversifying development inside business parks is a trend. The more self-contained the parks become, the fewer gas-guzzling and air-polluting car trips tenants make.
Some business parks have added restaurants and services so office workers don't have to leave during the day, and residential components enable people to live, work and shop in one location.
Real estate analyst Andrew Jenkins of Karnes Research Co. in Charlotte said he hasn't come across another privately developed medical park-retirement community combination like Metro Medical Campus in his regional travels.
“I would call this strategic placement,” he said. “I can see how you would feel comfortable living in a medical park and close to a hospital.”
Also, Jenkins said, “It looks like someone actually had some forethought. In a lot of a cases, it's just a property owner saying, ‘I've got a piece of land; this should work.'”
Metro Medical Campus, which has about 52,000 square feet of buildings completed or under construction, anticipates medical-related businesses, service providers and retailers will be attracted as word of the $22 million project spreads. Existing tenants include general businesses and medical service providers.
Tyson – founder, CEO and president of the 36-year-old Tyson Group Cos. – plans to start work next on a two-story building that would include retail space, and he has parcels that could accommodate restaurants, a hotel and a pharmacy.
Residents of Metro Plaza won't have to leave the 144,000-square-foot facility to meet their basic daily needs.
Monthly rent starting at about $1,600 for a 440- to 912-square-foot apartment covers housekeeping, maintenance, dining, transportation, and other services and social activities.
And unlike many ownership retirement communities offering high-level amenities, Metro Plaza won't require residents to pay huge deposits to gain admission.
Tyson, whose Ty-Par Realty Inc. is developing the medical campus, said his longtime friendship with Vaughan – they attended the same church – brought them together on the project.
Said Vaughan: “He told me five or six years ago how he intended to make it happen.”
Tyson said he persisted because he believes Union needs a place where seniors can rent apartments near their families.
“We don't want our people to leave our community to find a place like this,” he said. “We're losing the people who support our charities and churches. We're sending them off to another place to spend their lives.”
Linda Smosky, director of the Council on Aging in Union County said, “We have plenty of nursing homes and plenty of assisted living centers, but not anything like this.”
The nonprofit agency's clients express the most concern, she said, about finding smaller residences where they can feel safe and comfortable.
In a survey of more than 600 Union County seniors conducted last year, respondents were split almost 50-50 on whether they would consider moving into a senior or a retirement community, Smosky said.
Affordability is a major issue with retirees, she said, considering that the average Social Security check in Union County is about $815 a month.
Metro Plaza's Vaughan said the retirement community's target market is active adults seeking a stress-free lifestyle but with a desire to spend more time with families, pursue hobbies and remain engaged.
When they compare the expense of maintaining a home with that of living in the self-contained retirement community, he said, the annualized cost is about the same or less.
To bridge the gap between independent living and higher levels of care, Vaughan said, he and business partner Turner plan assisted living and memory care facilities in a later phase.
They are working, he said, with senior-care industry specialist Grace Management Inc. to oversee management of the community and help arrange financing.
The developers plan to start construction next spring and open the facility by late 2010.
Doug Smith: 704-358-5174; dougsmith@charlotteobserver.com
