New wellness, a center for healthy life and new independent residential offers are just a few of the ways, such as Plymouth Place, a community for life plan in La Grange, Illinois, revived his campus.
With the project, which was promoted by increasing local competition and the wishes and needs of the BabyBoomer generation, the operator converted the community from an aging property to a better restaurant, a more modern wellness program and the apartment options to meet the requirements of new in -depth consumers.
According to Eric Harmann, Chief Design Officer from AG Architecture Chief Design Officer, the planning with residents and local stakeholders of the efforts. As part of the process, the project team carried out a comprehensive market study, supervised a strategic planning process and brought up a developer as a consultant.
The end result marries traditional design elements with modern wellness forward design and amenities and won Plymouth Place in the category “Best Campus Repositioning of the Seniors in 2024”.
The concept
The planning for the renovation work of Plymouth Place started towards the end of 2019. The project team included the architecture of architecture of architecture architecture. Spellman Brady & Company as an interior designer and Eventus strategic partner as a development manager.
In addition to the implementation of a market study and a strategic planning process, the project team collected feedback from residents, employees and family members; Local leadership and people who live in the area of La Grange.
The project team then held a two -day meeting to determine its final project.
“They had the desire to grow and have a product that differs significantly from their existing tower,” Harmann told Senior Housing News. “[They had] An understanding of the new senior would want a slightly different lifestyle and different amenities than what he could currently offer. “
The designs called for the integration of the campus into the surrounding villages of La Grange and La Grange Park. For this purpose, the design is inspired by the typical typologies of Brownstone and Row House in Chicago and enables a different appearance of the eight -story Georgian tower of the campus.
The restructured plan also enables different height villa buildings and plenty of green areas that combine the entire campus.
The design included a garden area on the roof that gave the residents an interior area over the first floor – something that cannot be found in every high -ranking shared apartment, said Harmann.
The project team prioritized the conversion of commons on campus to show the residents that it was not forgotten in the expansion process. The residents were able to take the converted dining, the market and the salons, and this renovation work was finally made to the connection points for the main campus and the addition, the development was made easier due to their gradual approach.
Some challenges arose to translate the design of the community into the finished product, and Harmann found that there were many interviews in the planning phase.
Further challenges were groundwater in the area that prevented the ditch on the site through more than four feet, and led the design team to put a basement out of the original design and instead planned four free -standing buildings, each access to a joint parking lot.
The construction
Workers with pepper construction started renovating in mid -2020. The workers first rebuilt the interior of the community and built new independent living villas and the Center for Healthy Life afterwards.
Due to the master planning efforts that were made with “everyone on board”, including the pepper construction and the interior design, Spellman Brady and Company, the project team completed the repositioning project prematurely.
AG architects have completed documentation for the next renovation phase, while the employees completed the initial renovation that was supported in the process.
“We did not go through a process in which we have completed the complete documentation of every iteration of the phase in which we would have, or we would have waited for a completed documents,” said Hermann. “So we broke down things into three smaller projects in our office, which also support the sequencing of the contractors.”
The workers also shifted the independent living villas 30 feet to the north during the construction to keep a 130 -year -old tree. The tree was also preserved in a metaphorical sense by serving as inspiration for the name of the community's restaurant in its new center for healthy life, 30 North.
Ultimately, the construction of three months earlier than expected, with the cost of the project below the entire construction studio of USD 69.2 million.
The completion
The renovation work from Plymouth Place was officially completed on April 30, 2024 in front of the schedule and were under his total budget of $ 85 million.
The project team measured the success of the project in how it has exceeded its financial goals in pre -sale goals, and the rental agreement on the now complete occupancy, the favorable construction costs and the shortened final plan.
In the end, Harmann said that landscaping and external design was crucial that the community was ready for the residents to move in.
“It is one thing to see the units come together, but it is a different one to see the experience that a resident can go on his balcony,” said Harmann. “The outside space is often a second thought. But in this case they had all the amenities and the full landscape design when they moved in. “
As proof of this success, the municipality plans to add more villas in a further construction phase in autumn or winter 2025, with a growing waiting list for the offer.
The judges were particularly impressed by the amenities contained in the repositioning. Judge Luann Holec noticed that they “offer so many opportunities for the residents to enjoy the outdoor rooms”.
Judge Bruce Hurowitz noticed that he was impressed by the campus expansion, in particular the “very creative connections to the existing [campus]. “”
Judge Greg Gautreax added the material pallet selected for the repositioning, “the aesthetics refreshed when maintaining the connection to Legacy buildings”, and the “interiors are fresh and modern – entertaining use of color and texture”.
Harmann said that AG architects have the experience that she gained from Plymouth Place – such as in a colder climate, for the next projects – how they were used to.