Batavia's Holmstad unveils grand new space

The new Town Center at The Holmstad retirement center in Batavia is a pretty swank place.

There's a two-story atrium with a central fireplace and a concierge, a dining hall with white-linen tablecloths, and a workout room with computerized weight machines that will, with the insertion of your personalized fob, control just how much you should lift and how many times.

But Covenant Retirement Communities officials reminded the residents and guests gathered at a ribbon-cutting worship service Friday afternoon it is the sense of community that really makes the place special.

"This building is just another example of God working through us to provide for our well-being. I know this is just a building, but I believe it will provide for us as a community," executive director Karen Larson said.

"The real blessing of this whole institution is the residents and the talents and interest they bring here" to Batavia, Mayor Jeff Schielke said. The three-story building features apartments on the second and third floors. Each unit has a kitchen, or residents can dine downstairs in the dining room or at a small cafe.

The campus' beauty salon will move in shortly. And for the first time, residents have pools to exercise in: a three-lane lap pool and a warm-water therapy pool.

"I've been here two weeks today, and I'm just loving it," said Ruth Burnham, showing off her new two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment to visitors. She has lived in a duplex at the Holmstad since 2000, but felt she could maintain her independence longer if she moved into the new building. "I need to be connected in a building with lots of people," she said. "I just love it."

The $30 million, 138,000-square-foot building at Route 31 and Fabyan Parkway has 48 one- and two-bedroom apartments.

It is one of 15 retirement communities nationwide administered by Chicago-based Covenant Retirement Communities Inc. on behalf of the Board of Benevolence of the Evangelical Covenant Church. The Holmstad offers "continued care," ranging from independent living up to skilled-nursing care. It opened in 1975 in a former tuberculosis sanitarium; that building was demolished to make way for the Town Center.

CRC also owns Geneva Place apartments in downtown Geneva, Windsor Park Manor in Carol Stream and Covenant Village in Northbrook.