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Many senior citizens have to move from their house to a nursing home because of a medical issue.
But they still would prefer to live in a house-like setting and a family atmosphere.
Homestead Village will become the latest retirement community here to make that possible, as part of a $15 million expansion.
The nonprofit community on Marietta Avenue plans to convert its nursing home and personal care areas into households.
It also plans to construct 54 more apartments and renovate and expand its dining and activity facilities.
Construction on the East Hempfield Township campus will begin this spring with the household conversion phase.
The apartment, dining and activity phase could start as early as 2011.
A primary focus of the project is to bring home-style accommodations to the nursing home and personal care areas, said president Douglas Motter.
"Our nursing home is good, but it's that institutional, hospital-like environment," he explained.
The existing nursing-home building, which provides skilled nursing care, and adjacent personal-care building will be converted into four households. Combined, those facilities have 84 residents.
Each household typically will provide either 12 or 18 seniors with features such as full baths, kitchens, dining rooms and living rooms.
Motter said retirement communities nationwide are moving away from institutional settings.
But that trend is especially pronounced here, he said.
"In Lancaster, it's a competitive necessity. That's where the market has moved ...," he said. "Plus, it's the right thing to do."
Homestead has a capital campaign under way to raise $3.25 million to fund the household phase. More than $2 million has been raised to date.
The apartment phase will be funded by borrowing, said Motter, a task eased by the minimal debt on Homestead's balance sheet.
Another factor in Homestead's favor is the weak economy, which has led to lower construction costs, he said.
To make space for the new apartment building, Homestead plans to raze a small structure that contains a little of the community's dining and meeting space.
The apartment building will stand five stories high. It also will have a community area and expanded dining services.
Of the 54 new apartments, 48 will be two-bedroom units in response to strong demand. The others will be large one-bedroom units.
On the ground floor of the apartment building, Homestead will have a 4,500-square-foot multipurpose activities room.
Despite its height, the five-story building will be obscured from neighbors by distance and trees, said Motter.
The apartment building will be 220 feet from the property line, while the existing tree line will be supplemented with more trees, he said.
At the same time the new building is constructed, Homestead will renovate the common areas of its existing apartment buildings.
Opened in 1986, Homestead now has more than 450 residents, served by 200-plus employees.
Besides the 84 residents in its nursing home and personal-care areas, Homestead's other residents occupy 165 cottages and 112 apartments.
The population of the 60-acre campus could swell easily once its capacity is increased.
Homestead has a waiting list of about 150 individuals and couples, with most of the interest in two-bedroom apartments.
"It's nice to have people who want to move here," Motter said.
The attraction is multifaceted, he indicated.
Homestead has appealing facilities and amenities, as well as a convenient location near medical, shopping and entertainment destinations.
In light of sustained high interest in its campus, Homestead began planning this expansion in 2005.
Motter credits its land-planning firm, David Miller Associates, with creating a site design that uses Homestead's acreage efficiently while preserving its open space.
Perkins Eastman is the project architect for the apartment building, Cornerstone Design-Architects for the household project. Paul Risk Associates is the builder for both phases.
However, for the new apartments to be built, Homestead needs two township approvals.
First, Homestead will go before the East Hempfield zoners Monday for a parking variance.
Then in April, it expects to file a conditional-use application that would let it create a medical/retirement campus in an R-2 residential zone.
tmekeel@lnpnews.com; doconnor@lnpnews.com
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