Village Shalom plans $47 million expansion in Overland Park

Village Shalom has put a $47 million price tag on the first major expansion of its Overland Park continuing-care retirement community since 2000.

Construction, scheduled to begin in spring 2017, includes new apartments and villas, a freestanding memory care community, a new dining and entertainment area, and a new rehabilitation center.

The nonprofit retirement complex, sponsored by the Kansas City Jewish community, will also modernize its facilities.

Construction is expected to be completed by fall 2018.

SFCS, an architecture firm based in Roanoke, Va., that specializes in retirement communities, will design the project. St. Louis-based PARIC Corp. is the general contractor.

Matt Lewis, Village Shalom’s president and chief executive, said many of the upgrades respond to “the changing needs in our industry and the reality of a highly competitive industry.”

The expansions are to be funded by independent living entrance fees, issuance of tax-exempt fixed-rate bonds and a capital campaign that has yet to begin.

Village Shalom currently serves about 800 seniors a year.

The planned independent living addition adds 60 apartments in a new four-story building, each with an underground parking space. The apartments range from about 800 square feet to about 1,500 square feet and have one- and two-bedroom floor plans.

New independent living facilities also will include 13 villa-style residences with under-building parking at the northwest corner of the complex. Each two-bedroom villa will be about 1,350 square feet.

Jill Allin, director of sales and marketing, said more independent living units was the community’s biggest need. She said the buy-in fees by residents in the continuing care community have yet to be determined but are likely to range between $280,000 and $340,000.

Village Shalom had appointed a strategic planning committee that spent a year analyzing need and feasibility before deciding on the announced plans.

A new 12,000-square-foot “common area” on the existing campus will include a dining center alternative for independent living residents, a pub, theater, library, media center, day space and outdoor community space.

The expansion also will feature a new freestanding memory care center to be built in the northwest quadrant of the existing campus. The new center will follow the “Household Model,” an industry approach to caring for dementia and Alzheimer’s patients.

It will be built with four 12-resident “households,” two for assisted living and two for skilled nursing. It will include its own therapy space, salon and chapel, plus an adult day care center that can serve about a dozen participants a day.

The community’s existing memory care space will be remodeled as a short-term rehabilitation center with 24 private, short-term suites. The renovation also will create a 5,000-square-foot therapy gym with new equipment and aquatic therapy.

For more information, go to villageshalom.org/future or call 913-266-8300.

This story was originally published June 10, 2016 at 2:01 PM with the headline "Village Shalom plans $47 million expansion in Overland Park."