Join us as we discuss the design behind Opus East Memphis—a brand new community that is scheduled to open in 2023. Dave Dlugolenski and Patrick Bryan from development team Sagestone Partners talk about what goes into creating a stunning community like Opus East Memphis, from design to functionality.
Video Transcript
- Hello everybody and welcome to Senior Living Live, my name is Melissa. I hope you're having a fantastic day today. Well, we have a truly unique webinar for our viewers who are interested in how senior living communities are created from really the ground up. We are specifically talking about a brand new community coming to the East Memphis Tennessee area set to open up in 2023. It is called Opus East Memphis and it is currently under construction and will come to live courtesy of the gentleman you see here, SageStone partners LLC, a development and investment team that has been at the helm of creating several beautiful and stunning senior living communities, this one included. And this will be the latest and greatest Opus East Memphis, of course. Joining me now, the men you see here from SageStone to answer some questions about the new community and how a community is created is Patrick Bryan and Dave Dlugolenski. Gentlemen, thank you so much for being here with me today.
- Glad for having us.
- Glad to be here.
- Yeah. Excellent. Well, let's dive right in. So we wanna know a little bit about you guys, talk a little about SageStone, but we wanna hear a little bit more about yourselves and of course your vision for the company in say the next five years or so.
- Absolutely. Well again, thank you for having us. We're excited to be here. My name is Dave Dlugolenski, I'm the Managing Partner for SageStone Partners. My background, I was heavily involved in investment banking up until about 10 years ago in New York City, primarily in real estate finance. And so I spent the most of my career financing projects like this and in other sectors of commercial real estate and residential real estate. I made the decision to relocate to Atlanta from New York 10 years ago and get into the private equity real estate development and investment side of the business. There is a lot of drivers for that, obviously the credit crisis was won. I wanted to get closer to kind of start to finish, looking at a project when it's a piece of dirt versus coming in later in the process. It's a lot more tangible. I like the creative aspect of the design process and the construction process, and truthfully learning that side of the business from design to construction to land acquisition really made us better investors as well, just overall. And so I founded a company about eight years ago, which was the predecessor or sister company of SageStone called Aspire Development Partners. Arbor Company was one of the first operators that we worked with. We made a very strategic decision to work with only best in breed, both on the design side of the business, but the construction side of the business and obviously the operations side of the business with Arbor. And so we've enjoyed a tremendous run over the last seven years. Patrick Bryan, who's on the phone with me, is one of our all-star creative visionaries. And he actually worked at the time for what was a third party vendor providing interior design services, and so we made a very strategic decision a few years ago to bring everything as much as we could in-house to control those resources and to allow them the freedom to be more creative. We really try to focus our design and our company in terms of being designed forward and so hopefully it shows through what you'll see today and that we are not what people think senior living is. We really kind of focus on a hospitality concierge delivery method, a lot of really modern aesthetic which is unique. I think a lot of people have a perception that senior living is kind of more of a kind of old country club mansion field, but we really try to do it a little bit differently both in terms of the materiality that we introduce, but also colors. We try to be playful because we think it's just a unique chapter in people's lives to kind of act like kids again, to an extent. And so we're very excited to be here. As far as the company's concerned, we have, I would say, specialized in senior housing for the last seven years, but we've broadened and kind of started to do a lot more diversified development in areas of hospitality and office and traditional multifamily. And so that's allowed us to bring, both on the design side but also on the operating side, different ideas and cross pollinate across different commercial real estate asset classes. So we really pride ourselves on our being diversified in terms of what we do, but also being specialists in certain areas. But again, thank you for having us and Patrick, I'll turn it over to you for a little background.
- For sure. Just a little background about myself. I started with SageStone, when we started about five years ago, when the company was founded and have been an interior designer for 12 years plus now at this point, and just have been very fortunate to end up in the senior living world. And it's become one of the more challenging and rewarding types of design for me to do so it constantly keeps us on our toes and we're trying to figure out what the latest and greatest is and look in the future. And so it's really exciting. It's a niche market that at the end of the day, you can really be proud of and feel good about. So it's fun.
- And I admire people like you, who can literally look at dirt and envision this great, grand community as people will see when they look at the photographs for what actually will be in 2023, we're rhyming here. I feel like a rap star. So I truly admire that and I think that our viewers are going to admire it too when they see what you guys have at store for this particular community. And it's kinda, I think every community is unique so the blueprints will be a little bit different for each one but I think the processes are sort of the same and that's a little bit what we'll get into today. So it was announced in 2021, that you would be partnering with the Arbor Company to create this development. And we have mentioned the name, it is Opus East Memphis. So why Memphis, why the name Opus and why now?
- Sure. So why Memphis? We look at Memphis from an investment perspective as a sunrise city, meaning the sun is just beginning to rise there. Obviously Nashville has enjoyed a lot of focus and a lot of investment dollars over the past few years as the music scene in Nashville has grown, but Memphis has really got a really rich history to it. By spending time in Memphis over the last three years, we've gotten to know what defines Memphis and it truly is the people. We also looked at the quality and the age of the competition within the market and kind of analyzed supply demand drivers to make sure the project was supportable. But when you look at Memphis, it's got a lot of really good attributes. The river is obviously a natural amenity, but it's really driven by three main industries which is agriculture, healthcare and healthcare technology, and then logistics and logistics technology with the airport and FedEx. And so from an investment perspective, those are all very large investment areas at the national level, and that's three areas where Memphis is known for. So it's on the macroeconomic perspective, there's been a lot of growth in Memphis. I would also say from a local leadership perspective, Memphis has had tremendous leadership over the past few years. They've made a lot of investment in their public infrastructure, whether it's the redevelopment of the riverfront, The Convention Center, the new airport terminal that opened and so we look at those types of things where we look at local leadership to see if they're investing in the community and not just investing in the community or the technology of all, but trying to look forward and try to invest for the future. And so that really drove us to Memphis, but I'd say overwhelmingly is just the quality of the people and the quality of the culture they call the City of Soul. And having, like I said, visited there many times and now part of the business community, it's the people that really differentiate Memphis. Patrick, I know you've been there many times now with me and you may have a different perspective, but your also having grown up nearby, have been to Memphis many more times than I have.
- For sure. Memphis was, in my backyard growing up, it was the closest big city that we had. So grew up going there a lot and what's really exciting about the time that we're in right now is all of these Southern cities are really revitalizing at an amazing pace. I mean, we see it in Nashville, with Austin, Texas, and now Memphis. It's just really exciting for that to start taking place and for people to start noticing these great cities and really for Memphis to become the bell of the ball again. It was always such a beautiful city and great architecture. And like Dave said, the people are just the epitome of hospitality.
- The bell of the ball, I love that. And I do 100% agree with you, we're all located in Atlanta if anybody wants to know and so we see the revitalization of all of these cities from Atlanta, Chattanooga, all these cities in the south, and it's great, I think it's good for everybody all across the board And hey, you want a warmer part of the country so come on down you northerners up there. We know it's chilly up there right now. It's not too bad Down South so come on down. So let's start kind of with that blueprint, right? You talked about looking at dirt and then creating something from that that will actually come to fruition. So from the blueprint phase to the construction phase, what goes into that gentlemen and how does that initial vision continue to evolve as time goes on?
- So I'm gonna go back because I did not answer the second part of your question, which was why the name Opus, and then I'm gonna let Patrick
- The catch.
- Answer the question you just asked. And so Opus, outside of being the brand of a great wine, is defined as any artistic work, especially one on a large scale. And again, as we try to differentiate ourselves in terms of design, it just felt like it was an appropriate name for this community just given the scale of the community, something that we continue here, we wanna be very art focused and on a large scale. So that was what really drove the name Opus, is that we wanted to encourage the artistic vibrancy within the project. And again, this is the largest senior housing project ever developed in Memphis history. So there you have it, that's Opus.
- Wonderful, wonderful. And no pressure at all, right. That last little disclaimer.
- Yeah.
- So you guys better go big or go home, that's all we're saying.
- That's it.
- But I think you will accomplish that and I think everybody will see that by the time we're done here. So let's get to the process, this guys, at how it starts to what it looks like and the end result when it's finished.
- Yeah. So I'm gonna start from kind of the market analysis side of things and finding the right local partners. My job as the developer is to make sure that I put the right players on the field, really serving as the quarterback to the team and directing resources to make sure that we're executing properly. So we do a lot of planning on the front side even before we get to the blueprint side of things. It's really, really detailed market analysis in terms of what types of amenities do people wanna see? We often organize community groups and do a lot of polling and questioning of what do people wanna see in the community? What types of units? What types of closet sizes? We compare to other existing properties in the market. And so there's a lot of data analysis that goes into defining what we're gonna build and how many units, what's the mix of studios, one bedrooms, two bedrooms, how many cottages should we add to the program as well? And then trying to kind of the space programming to a budget that works for the market. And so after we've gone through that, what I consider kind of defining the building program, and we do that from day one with Arbor, we don't really look at projects without the operations team sitting there with us from day one looking at the property. So Judd Harper, the president of the Arbor company, was with me. And before we committed to the project, Judd was looking at the dirt with me in Memphis. And so what that does, these are very unique buildings because if you think about it, it's really mixed use in one building so it's not a mixed use development, it's mixed use in one building. So you've got restaurants that are operating next to gyms that are operating next to a hotel that's operating next to a multi-family apartment. And obviously we're providing different types of nursing services so you're, to an extent, operating a hospital as well inside the confines of one building. And so that was brought to my attention through one of these types of formats. They said, you're doing mixed use in one building, and it didn't even occur to me, but there's a lot of planning that goes in on the front side. And then once we do that, we make sure that we've got the right team. So we always have local partners both on the design team, whether it's the civil engineer, whether it's the architect, whether it's the interior design team. And that's just a matter of getting the right team in place to execute both the design, the construction and then ultimately the operations of the facility. But Patrick, maybe I'll let you kind of take over from there and talk a little bit more about the blueprint to construction.
- For sure. As Dave mentioned, we really start this process pretty early on. So the patch of dirt that we had to work with was amazing. We walked on to the site the first time and there's a beautiful mansion and rolling hills and beautiful trees. And with the Dixon Art Gallery right next door, I mean, we were just given all kinds of basically bullet points of a pathway of design and concept, and it all just laid itself out for us. And we ran with it, the soul of Memphis, the hospitality, the Southern charm, we really wanted to bring all of that into the design as we went through the process. And Opus has been an interesting project 'cause it started before the pandemic and so what that gave us was a great dialogue and insight into what was going on, what was to come, what could come, all of these questions were coming up. And so it really allowed us to hone in on those types of aspects of design and implement those into this project. So everything that we've learned from the pandemic is gonna be wrapped up in this project and in a beautiful way. Yeah, it's gonna be really exciting. And as we continue, we just want to create a beautiful environment that people feel at home. And what we like to say is we want it to be comfortable without being homely or dowdy, but we at the same time want it to be really elegant and luxurious without feeling stuffy. So it's a really careful line to walk and we have a lot of fun doing it. And like Dave said, we have a lot of creative leeway on these projects, so we really push some limits. And we like to think that we're raising the bar and coming up with new and better ideas every day.
- So you use all those great adjectives to describe the area and then Dave's talking about it being mixed use, and I'm just thinking, do people have to hold you back, Patrick, when all these design ideas and I guess dialing that in, that's gotta be tough, right?
- It is. I mean, sometimes Dave is good about that. I'll definitely, we kick off a project and my mind goes wild at 100,000 feet and by the time we start putting pen to paper, closer to 30,000 feet and my head's outta the clouds a little bit. But definitely keep that feeling and that drive to have the same amount of impact that my original head in the clouds idea had. We want it to still have that someone walking in and just going "This is, I'm home, I've made it," in so many different ways.
- And that really is the goal, it is, this is somebody's home and it should feel like home to them. It's a beautiful home but it's going to be home for them. And you mentioned the pandemic. So guys, let's shift gears now a little bit because that does definitely segue into our next question, and that is some of the trends in senior living. So very different, maybe three years ago to what it is now and you guys are having to incorporate those changes into the design, right? So what is the latest and greatest in senior living right now? What are residents asking for and how do you think you'll be able to deliver here?
- So I'll take a stab at the kind of, just to kind of set it up. We really build our communities based on five key principles. We want to deliver a healthy environment, healthy food, physical activity, social interaction and cultural engagement. And so we try to deliver that through the design side of the business in all those different areas. Obviously technology is something that is evolving rapidly and so you have to be careful in this business because there is a new technology being delivered every day to satisfy some type of request, demand, need, but technology also changes very rapidly. So I'm gonna focus on kind of the technology side of things. I'll let Patrick take some of the more, what do people wanna see in touch and feel. We've evaluated tons of different technology solutions, mainly around life safety so emergency call solutions, looking at different types of wellbeing type devices, wearable type devices that we can monitor, different types of major statistics for our residents. On the kind of smart department side of things, there's smart technology within the apartments, whether it be the lighting controls, the HVAC controls or any other types of systems that are now integrated into kind of a smart home delivery, because what we've noticed we want, it's more of an ease of living type concept. We want people to live easier and not be as focused and a lot of that can be accomplished through these smart technologies. So the technology side of things has been amazing to watch evolve. When we first got in the business, wifi was not talked about very often, now people differentiate the buildings or the quality of the building based on how fast the wifi is. So we also offer technology classes for, obviously our average age is late 80s typically in our buildings. And now we've started to see that people will choose an apartment based on the wifi signal and so it's interesting. We've always trended over investing in technology and technology solutions and now with not only what the customers need, but it's also the operator. The operator just giving where labor costs are trending and different inflationary pressures, we've gotta figure out how to be more creative in our delivery and technology plays a major role in that. And so we've looked at robotic delivery of medicine. And so there's all different things that we've explored. On the pandemic side of things, it did allow us a chance to reset and look at what types of technologies materiality we could use to adapt to the pandemic. A lot of that had to do with air quality, a lot of it had to do with the types of services, heart services, a lot more quartz than granite because granite's porous and can basically take in the different types of bacteria. And we looked at different types of unit changes and I'm-
- I'm so proud that he knows that now by the way.
- You should be, you should be. But we've got automatic temperature scanners at the entrances to try to be predictive if someone is falling ill. And so again, there's a lot of different solutions still being developed that relates to the pandemic but we do consider ourselves to be kind of a leader in that field. And we've done a lot of research and we've looked at a lot of different technology solutions, but we do definitely try to differentiate ourselves in terms of technology. But Patrick I'll hand it over to you.
- Yeah. So senior living is constantly evolving. Like I said before, that's really what makes it exciting. It's kind of not a new frontier, but I feel like people are starting to look at it that way, of like how do we ask the questions that haven't been asked and push ourselves in different directions? So it's constantly keeping us on our toes. And one thing that we did after such a great success with our Lakeside at Amelia Island project was we wanted to go back and talk to the residents and get their feedback on where they lived, their home, their new environment on a day to day basis. And brutal feedback is what we wanted and what we asked for and what we learned is that really what they loved the most about the community were the amenities that allowed them the freedom, the independence to live their life and experience new things and so we really wanted to bring that into Opus. So we put a big emphasis on the activity areas, the amenity areas, we've got multiple dining venues, at any point you could start off your morning with yoga on the grand lawn and end it with a mixology class in the dining lounge at night. So it's really gonna be an exciting experience, an everyday experience for them to explore new things and learn new things. You can never get to an age where it's not important to keep learning and evolving. So we definitely wanna push that with our residents and show them that that's possible.
- Can you lower the age range for those who can move in?
- I'm trying to get a space held for myself.
- Okay. I'll move in next door. So this is the fun part guys, right? We get to see your vision. And as we're looking at this, and I know we're gonna see some photos here, can you tell us sort of, we've kind of touched on a little bit, sort of the historical aspects of Memphis, the good food, the music, the history and how that all ties into what we're going to see.
- Absolutely. I'm gonna let Patrick kind of drive on the imagery side of things. I will tell you that Opus sits in kind of the arts and cultural center of Memphis and so the Memphis Botanical Gardens, Overton Park, the Dixon Art Gallery are all within a football throw of the site and so we carried on that tradition within the design. So you'll notice it's very Memphis-focused in terms of how we incorporate different design ideas into the project but heavy emphasis on arts and culture throughout the project. And Patrick can kind of take us through a test drive of what it's gonna be.
- [Patrick] So this is kind of just a overview image of our living spaces that we have here at Opus. We have a lot of gray textures and patterns. And what really kicked this project off for us was, like I mentioned before, the traditional Southern roots of Memphis and then also having the Dixon Art Gallery next door, that really drove a lot of our concept. So we really wanted to emphasize art and traditionalism. So with that, we took a lot of things that were standard designs, that for instance, you see here an old sofa, which is kind of a dated design and we're taking it and we're gonna update it with great fabrics and some acrylic panels and certain things. So we basically are taking traditionalism and turning it on its head is what I like to say and giving it a new spruce up and show that you can really make something new again. And that's kind of the concept throughout the whole project. And that's how we want our residents to feel as well is it's never too late to brush it off and create a new self and that's what we're trying to create here. So we'll kind of walk through a couple of these. Like I said, the art was a big focus for us so we're gonna have art galleries throughout the project with art that residents can go and sit and relax and enjoy. And that's one thing that we found from our Amelia Island project unintentionally was that the residents really liked the art that was displayed and they actually ended up turning it into a happy hour wine and art tour. And when we heard that, we were just like, oh, wow, how do we piggyback on that? How do we expand on it? And so we put that a lot into this project and so that builds on art galleries throughout the project. Wall coverings with patterning and fabrics that really give you a luxurious feel throughout the project. Yeah, so we have all different types of materials throughout the project. What I like to play on is in one room, if for instance, you have a small scale tile, let's bring in a large scale pattern with it and play on that. So it really just builds on itself as the design goes. And Memphis really gave us a lot of great inspiration to keep going in that direction. So as far as from what I've heard, we've had some really great feedback from everyone. Our sales office is scheduled to open at the end of the summer. And it's really exciting for something like that because it's the first time that the community can really come in and see what you've built and what's coming their way and really be inside of that environment. Although it's a small marketing center, we bring in the same finishes from the main building and create almost a vignette of what you can expect when you actually walk in the front doors for the first time.
- Yeah. Patrick, why don't you go ahead into one of the next slides so we can kind of show some of the exterior elements as well. I mean, the feedback has been overwhelming. We have a great neighbor in the Homeowners Association next to us and so we pride ourselves in our ability to work and be good neighbors. And so obviously everyone is concerned with what's gonna go in their backyard. And so through the zoning and entitlement process, we made the community members really partners of ours. And so we took a lot of input, we tried to respect the design integrity of the neighborhood and make sure that from a materiality perspective we were respectful, but also we were adding value to the neighborhood overall because a lot of people get concerned when they hear of these larger scale projects going nearby where they live. And so we pride ourselves on working collaboratively with our partners and our local partners and I think it shows through just in terms of the quality of the materials, both inside and outside the building. But again, we pride ourselves on sense of arrival. And so you'll see, we invest and overinvest just in kind of the higher impact areas, the front door, the living room, things that you would do at your house. And so we've got a very grand approach to the building. Some of the, I would say, grander cottages are located along the main entry. We've got water features on the front, we've got electric vehicle charging stations, we've got concierge valet services that will use the house Tesla car to bring people to doctor's appointments, things like that. So it's both the quality of the physical plant, but also the quality of the services that we offer and the quality of the experience as you approach and you enter the building. Why don't you go ahead to the next one, Patrick, just show some of the interior renderings that we've got as well.
- It's beautiful. It's so far stunning. Go ahead.
- Yeah.
- So Patrick, I'll let you talk about the interiors, 'cause obviously I didn't make this.
- [Patrick] All right. Yeah. So kind of how I mentioned earlier with changing up the design of the sofa. You can see here, that's our interpretation of a modern and old sofa and we wanted to really play with scale in the lobby. And so right when you walk in, you really have, like they said, a sense of arrival. And we wanted to pull from everything that was Memphis and so we went ahead and put this great grand piano, smack that in the center of the room and you can actually sit around it with a glass bar top on it and have Mint Julep in the evening and listen to someone play the piano and meet new people and have great conversations. And so we really brought that into this and gave great scale with the fireplace. That was one thing that kind of kicked off this room for me. I know it's kind of a small thing to some people, but for me doing a five foot tall, see through fireplace right in the front lobby just really gives you a sense of that grandeur that we want you to fill with this property. And the minute you walk in the door, we hope that that's exactly how you'll feel.
- [Melissa] It's gorgeous. Yeah. And looks like we've got the dining area. That looks spectacular.
- [Patrick] Yeah. So our culinary experiences in any of our properties with Arbor has just been amazing. And that was one thing that we got back from our Amelia Island residence was that they loved the dining room and the experiences that were had from that, from cooking classes and chefs coming in to speak and different types of cuisines at different nights and just keeping it fresh. And so we really focused on that and we have different dining venues throughout the property. And so you can start off at happy hour in the lobby, bistro hanging out with people playing pool and then move on into the dining area where we have a separate dining lounge that's a little more intimate, more low level moody lighting is what I like to say. And then moving into this great dining room that you see here where we've broken it off into sections. We wanted it to feel like a restaurant and bring in the kitchen into the dining room. So we have a huge window where you can see the chefs cooking and preparing everything. And that's really important to people, especially these days with cleanliness and health issues going on all over and coming up every day. And so we wanted to have full visibility to how your food's being made. And also it's just really cool to be able to look in there and see everything going on and it just gives more activity to the room. So it's been really exciting to build on that. And I'll kind of touch on some of our amenities as well. Like I said, the property gave us a beautiful backdrop to build on. And so we have great courtyards and amazing outdoor spaces as you see down here to your right. And also wellness was a huge proponent of this as we moved forward. And so we really focused on a whole wellness wing of this property. So you have not only your standard salons but we have massage rooms, a full spa set up with locker rooms, indoor pool, saunas. You can take a full day and really feel like you've gone out to a five star resort with a spa and take that time to yourself and it's great. It's really exciting.
- [Patrick] The beach beds are a wonderful addition or the pool beds, I should say it, you could maybe pretend like you're at the beach in one of those but just stunning. Absolutely stunning.
- [Dave] Yeah. So these are just some real images from past projects that we thought we would share to show you some kind of what you've seen so far has been mostly 3D renderings, but these are real images from some of our current projects that we have.
- So then this is a good place for this next question. And we'll get to the construction time and where we're at and when it opens once again towards the end of our conversation, but what does make SageStone a leader in your field as we take a look at some of these real properties that are currently in existence? And what separates you from other development and investment teams in the country?
- [Dave] I think there's a few things that really differentiate, again, this is all about design and I think from a design perspective, we are definitely viewed as kind of design forward and leaders within the industry. And as part of being designers and being creative, you have to take risk. And for an industry that, I would say, has historically been very risk averse because most people think about senior housing and think, okay, I wanna reduce risk. And so we think about it obviously not from a safety or security perspective but from a design perspective. We're willing to make investments and not all of them pay off, but we're willing to try new things to see how we can continue to elevate the experience. So that's one, we approach every project from a long term perspective. I think a lot of developers are known for trying to do things as cost effectively as possible and then they sell the project and move on to the next and leave it for the next donor. We make every decision as if this was our home and we were gonna live here for the next 30 to 50 years of our life. And so we have found that that proves to be the best experience for us as investors, but also for the operator that operates the building and then ultimately the residents because at the end of the day without happy residents, we're not in business. And so our goal is to make sure that we've got happy residents no matter what we do. And so we factor that into every investment decision that we make and a lot of people look at us sometimes and say, "Wow how could you do that or how could you even think about it? That's so crazy to think about." One example is, in which it doesn't seem like it's crazy now, but we were one of the first senior living operators and developers to use keyless door entries. So RFID door entries, everyone else had always traditionally used keyed entries. So we recognize that seniors often have hard times remembering keys and finding keys and things like that, and so it was a major upgrade at the time. And when we first started doing it, no one else had done it. And so it's just the little things that we started doing seven years have become industry standard now at this point. And we're pretty proud of certain elements like that. And I think ultimately, we just have a very passionate, caring team of people from the operator to our designers to our ownership groups and our investment groups. We kind of joke about it, but really our goal is to help residents and help their families because aging should be elegant. It's not always elegant and we wanna provide the best environment for you to age and age gracefully in place. And so we call it compassionate capitalism because we really do provide a service. And at the end of the day, the most rewarding thing is to go and see that you've built something where people live and they live happily. And so I think it's the passion, it's the care, it's kind of the long term minded, how we think about value creation and who we create value for. And like I said, number one, we try to create value for our residents and as a byproduct we end up creating value for our team as well. But Patrick, I don't know if you have anything else you want to add, but that's really how we look to differentiate ourselves.
- [Patrick] Just to piggyback on what he said. I mean, really, I think what sets us apart is that we do care tremendously about the final product and how everyone feels about it and how happy the residents are. And really what makes a difference, I think, with us is that at the end of the day, we're pushing ourselves to think outside of the box and create environments with a fresh take so that residents and visitors and staff all feel like they're at home and in a safe space. And we really strive to stand out from the crowd and be different with senior living. So like Dave said, we get to take some risks and push the envelope a little bit. So I think that that's really where we shine.
- Yeah. That technology, beauty, Tesla's charging stations. I mean, you really have it all here in this community. It is sensational, I think is the proper term to use here. And it looks gorgeous and I know you guys are gonna bring that to life and it's very exciting. So we talk about target dates for the opening of some of these communities and this particular target opening is early 2023. Where are we at now with the construction guys? And how does that target date look? Are we gonna stick to that.
- I hope so. I will say that we are in unprecedented times from a supply chain and logistics perspective. We're also facing some cost pressures, but again, we pride ourselves in being very flexible in terms of how we approach those things. But yes, right now we're on schedule to open February of 2023. Our cottages will begin to deliver late 2022. We may or may not depending on whether we've got the ability to move with some people in towards the end of this year, but we feel good about the date. In terms of the construction activity, the buildings are fully framed, the cottages are kind of following suit, the roof is going on. The independent living building right now, we'll begin setting windows in about 30 days. And the goal is to basically get the building sealed in within the next 60 days so that we can really start the interior work. And so that becomes a critical date in almost any construction project is to get it topped off and sealed in 'cause that keeps the water out of the building. And so we're just now entering a good period of weather for Memphis so we should start to see a lot drier days and a lot more productivity on site. But again, we are not immune to what everyone else is experiencing from a delayed perspective, and so some things we can control and think smarter and differently and some things are out of our control. And so we still feel good about the date opening in February of 2023.
- And I know you'll do everything in your control again, so many things out of your control. But it does have a little wiggle room in case there are some delays but you guys sound like you're gonna be right on target and I know that's exciting for those who are literally counting down the calendar days to get there.
- Yeah. Now we've got groups of people that have already made reservations and countless others that are waiting to see when we open the model unit and the sales cottage to understand. A lot of buyers are renters. They wanna touch and feel it before they commit and that's scheduled to happen in June of this year. So we'll have something that people can touch, see, kind of feel a finished product in less than 90 days at this point. So we're super excited.
- Perfect. And guys, as we wind down here, I think it's been very informative, especially for those who do have an interest and can't touch and feel yet this will help certainly, give them an hour's worth of what they can look forward to. But any parting thoughts about this particular community that you want people to know or about your partnership with the Arbor Company?
- No. I mean, our partnership with the Arbor Company is truly a marriage and we look at it the same way with our residents. We expect everything to be a very long term relationship and it has been. They've been a tremendous operating partner, really what I consider to be the best in the business. And we've interviewed every major operator, they manage under 50 communities, they are able to deliver, what I call, a boutique service delivery where it's very localized and very differentiated. It's not a corporate atmosphere where some of the larger groups that operate hundreds of buildings throughout the United States, can be a little bit different in terms of how they operate and more financial focused and kind of resident focused. And so we are excited about our marriage to the Arbor Company, the service delivery. We feel like we've got the best piece of real estate in Memphis for this product. We feel like we've got the best operator in the Southeast, and I've got the best creative team in the business. So we're excited for people to be able to come in and touch and feel. And we really are the community outreach, we call it community in-reach and try to bring people into the building to feel and touch and say, wow, I didn't know this was senior housing. And so we're excited to welcome visitors, residents and we're working as hard as we can to get it opened as soon as possible.
- Yeah. Changing the perspective and the minds of people all about senior living one community at a time. You guys are knocking it outta the park. So Patrick and Dave, I think this has really opened our viewer's eyes and just how communities, not just this one, Opus East Memphis, but many of your communities really come to life. The thought that goes into each design and how that's all incorporated throughout the construction phase and beyond. This is one more opportunity to sort of toot your horn beyond the Arbor Company, but any other interesting projects you have coming up on the horizon that you you'd like to share with some of our viewers.
- As developers we've always got a pipeline of projects, I would say probably the most exciting project is also in Memphis. We've got a large mixed use development in Downtown Memphis that sits between the FedEx forum and the baseball's, the Redbird Stadium. It's about 800 apartments, a couple office buildings, two hotels and so really looking to change the game. And so transformative is probably the way that we like to describe ourselves. And the only thing, we want stuff that's gonna deliver impact and change and through that deliver a very positive impact, both from a community and an economic development perspective. And yeah that project should start in the next 90 days as well and we'll offer some amenities for the residents of Opus to go Downtown and spend some time eating, dining, playing if they wanted to catch a game or a baseball game or Grizzlies' game. So that's a very exciting project and we've got a few more of these in other major markets, Charleston, Fort Lauderdale. We're looking at a few projects here in Georgia, again. So our goal is not to have to do ten projects a year, we just wanna do two or three really impactful projects per year.
- Yeah. So you guys are really working the generations here and mom and dad can be in the senior living community and then I can go live down in this new project that you have ready to unveil very shortly in Memphis. Very, very smart guys. Very nice. And I think that this has been very informative as I mentioned, and I just thank you both so much for taking the time to be with us today and to share your knowledge all about senior living.
- Thank you.
- Thank you. It's been great.
- Thank you. Opus East Memphis opens February, 2023. For availability and more information about this particular community, please contact the Arbor Company 901-763-8498. Thank you so much for being a part of this webinar today, and thank you so much for being a part of Senior Living Live. Have a great day, everybody.
