Wheeling chosen for new concept in senior living
You know there's added pressure for the family business when the boss names a new project after his daughter.
Such is the case with The Whitley of Wheeling, a novel concept for the Texas company behind the Autumn Leaves senior living communities, now spread across 10 suburbs from Arlington Heights to Vernon Hills.
Shovels will hit the ground in the next few weeks on an estimated $20 to $25 million project that will convert five acres of vacant land east of a synagogue on Dundee Road into a three-story, 102-unit building with gardens and other amenities.
As developers rush to meet the booming demand for residential communities catering to aging baby boomers, The Lasalle Group hopes to stand out among the stiff competition with a model that combines assisted living and care for patients with Alzheimer's, dementia and other memory disorders.
The Whitley of Wheeling - a company executive named it after his daughter - will offer both: 34 units will be dedicated to memory care on the first floor, and the rest will be set aside for assisted living on the second and third floors.
"The demand for that service has become prevalent in recent years and more specialized," said John Melaniphy, Wheeling's economic development director. "It differentiates them from the other facilities in the metro area."
Why launch a new concept in Wheeling?
Melaniphy said the company was drawn to a high-profile location where roughly $175 million in new development is either breaking ground or in the planning stages.
Northgate Crossings - a 288-unit luxury apartment complex that broke ground last fall - accounts for $50 million of that. And nearby will be the centerpiece, the $100 million Town Center, where Whitley residents and their families will have easy access to shops and restaurants, Melaniphy said.
Trustees did turn away another assisted-living developer from the area, hoping instead to lure a business that generates sales tax. But the village remains in talks with that firm to find an alternative site in Wheeling, Melaniphy said.
The in-demand section of Dundee Road is in a tax increment financing district, but The Lasalle Group hasn't requested incentives.
A new senior center could be in the mix, too, as the village considers moving senior programming into the park district's Community Recreation Center on the municipal campus.
Residents are expected to move into the 90,000-square-foot Whitley, at 60-156 W. Dundee Road, by the summer of 2016. They will pay a monthly rent.
A company representative didn't respond to a request for comment.