A new $15 million building is currently under construction on Fulton Street, just off of I-96 in Grand Rapids Township. Construction crews broke ground on the project this month, and it is expected to be finished by summer 2025. The new building will be a 26-unit independent senior living facility, complete with personal garages and high-quality appliances in every home.
Nonprofit senior living provider Brio Living Services is building the facility on its 35-acre Porter Hills Village campus in Grand Rapids Township, located at 3600 Fulton St. E. The nearly 50,000-square-foot building, called The Ravines, will have apartments ranging in size from 1,360 to 1,480 square feet, said James Kelly, chief sales and marketing officer at Brio Living Services.
Each unit will have amenities like fully equipped kitchens with full-sized appliances, 9-foot ceilings, high-quality finishes, personal garages, and storage spaces. The three-story building will overlook a creek and wooded area, giving it a “tree house-like setting,” Kelly said.
The building will also have a large common space with a game room and outdoor area on the third floor that will offer a place for residents to socialize. “The biggest part of people moving to retirement communities is really for the social atmosphere, so we try to give them as much as that lifestyle as we can,” Kelly told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press.
For pet owners, the building will have a pet relief station featuring artificial turf flooring over a drain, allowing residents to take their dog to relieve themselves without having to go outside at night or in the winter.
The units will range in price from $375,000 to $625,000, which residents pay in full upfront, typically from the sale of their prior home, Kelly explained. Brio offers a 90% refundable contract, which means that if a resident leaves their apartment, they get 90% of their money back for the unit. Residents also pay a monthly $3,200 services fee, which covers everything including all utilities, maintenance, taxes, and meals.
Kelly said there is a need for more senior housing options in the Grand Rapids area. Michigan’s aging population is growing, and more senior citizens are seeking independent living communities where they can enjoy an “easier life” after they retire, Kelly said.
“Grand Rapids is a very competitive market for senior living,” Kelly said. “But even with as many communities as (there) are out there, we do market studies, and the market studies still show that there’s room for growth in the market.”
Before designing The Ravines, Brio Living Services conducted a survey of age- and income-qualified seniors living within a 15-mile radius of the Porter Hills Village campus to determine what local residents looked for in a senior living facility, Kelly said. Over 700 people responded to the survey, which was sent to residents over the age of 70 with an annual income of $50,000 or more and assets including home ownership of $250,000 or more, Kelly said.
Kelly said independent living facilities allow senior adults to live comfortably in a community where they can enjoy their independence while being surrounded by friends and activities. “Our typical buyer is around, say 78 to 82 years old, and they’re living in their homes that they lived in for 30 or 40 years… And they’re saying to themselves, ‘I can still cook, I can still clean, I can still drive, but I don’t like driving at night, and when I cook, I still have to clean up, and I still have to do the grocery shopping, I’m still cutting the grass,’” Kelly said. “People just say, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore. I want life to be easier. The amount of time that I spend, say, cutting the grass, what could I do with that time if I didn’t have to do it?’”
At the Porter Hills Village campus, residents have access to dining facilities and activities like educational lectures, cooking demonstrations, games, and events. Brio Living Services has invested roughly $24 million into the Porter Hills campus over the last five years to refurbish the existing units and renovate the campus’s dining and common spaces, Kelly said. Some of the new campus additions include a learning studio, an enhanced and more user-friendly library, a new resident store, a movie theater with a recording studio, a resident coffee bar, and a lounge, according to the organization’s website.
Porter Hills was founded in Grand Rapids in 1970. Five years ago, the senior living provider affiliated with United Methodist Retirement Communities (UMRC) to become Brio Living Services, which is now the second largest nonprofit senior living provider in Michigan.
Kelly said there are still units available at The Ravines. Brio Living Services has gotten almost 70 interest deposits from potential buyers since last spring and is in the process of converting those interest deposits to people choosing their apartments and placing a $10,000 deposit to hold their unit, Kelly said. Typically, there’s about a 40% conversion rate on the interest deposits, he explained.
For more information about The Ravines facility, visit porterhillsvillage.mybrio.org/the-ravines/.
