St. James Place, opened in 1983, was the first “continuing care retirement community” in Louisiana. As a CCRC, it offers a wide spectrum of services, from independent living to assisted living to nursing home and dementia care.
“We take care of you for the rest of your life,” says Tom Farrell, the community’s president and CEO.
But as Business Report details in a feature from the new issue, the Baton Rouge-area senior assisted living market is getting more crowded. And while the new communities are not technically “CCRCs,” many offer multiple levels of care on the same site. Farrell says he welcomes the competition, but thinks developers might be getting a little ahead of the demand curve. He expects some will have trouble filling beds.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the population of people 65 years or older numbered 44.7 million in 2013, or about one in every seven Americans. By 2040, that age group is expected to make up 21.7% of the population. Senior living developers are working to serve that growing market, says Sharla Aloisio, executive director of the Louisiana Assisted Living Association.
Today’s seniors are looking for a different quality of life than their predecessors, and the amenities offered at senior living facilities going up in the Capital Region reflect the shift. Ten or 20 years ago, retirement community developers often looked for a quiet site off the beaten path.
A typical tagline was “gracious senior living,” says Glenn Barclay, COO and co-founder of Blake Management Group, which operates a number of upscale assisted living communities across the South.
“That is not what seniors want today,” he says. “They want a very active lifestyle.”
His company soon will manage its first two communities in the Capital Region. The Blake at The Grove—featuring independent living, assisted living and dementia care—is expected to open in Baton Rouge early next year on 8.5 acres within The Grove, Richard Carmouche’s planned unit development located just off Interstate 10 behind the Mall of Louisiana. And in Central, construction has also started for The Claiborne at Shoe Creek.
Barclay expects groundbreakings for 10 to 15 new communities associated with his company in the next two years. Louisiana recently began allowing qualified assisted living staff to administer medication, which he says encourages more assisted living projects in the state.
St. James Place will hold a strategic planning session for its board of directors next year to make sure it’s meeting the market’s needs, Farrell says. He touts the community’s five-star nursing home, which new projects can’t match because of a state moratorium on new nursing facilities.
“This is a critical time,” he says. “The whole senior living industry has changed.”
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