Senior complex to be built in Altoona as Syverson Home replacement
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Andrew Dowd, Leader-Telegram staff
Grace Lutheran Foundation plans to replace its nearly half-century-old Syverson Lutheran Home in Eau Claire in summer 2016 with a new three-building rehab facility and senior living complex in Altoona.
Grace Lutheran Church members voted Sunday to proceed with the new $18.5 million complex, which would include short-term rehab, long-term care rooms and a community center located on the northwest corner of Spooner Avenue and North Willson Drive in Altoona.
"The plan is to transfer the license from Syverson Home to the new facility," said Mark Christensen, CEO of the Grace Lutheran Foundation.
Construction of the new facility is expected to begin in May 2015 with an opening planned for June 2016, according to a foundation news release. Residents of the 102-bed Syverson Home, Grace Lutheran's current skilled nursing facility at 816 Porter Ave. in Eau Claire, would then be moved out to the new Altoona facility, Christensen added.
In addition to having 9.2 acres that can fit the three planned buildings, plus space for a couple more that could be built in the future, Christensen said the new building would be part of what's becoming a health care campus in Altoona along the U.S. 53 corridor.
The new rehab center and senior facility is just a block away from the foundation's Grace Edgewood Assisted Living, 2512 Spooner Ave., which also is home to adult day services. And OakLeaf Surgical Hospital, Chippewa Valley Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, and Northwoods Therapy Associates is just to the north in Altoona's River Prairie development.
"We think it's a good fit," Altoona city Administrator Mike Golat said.
He introduced the project to the Altoona Plan Commission on Monday night, which is expected to review a conditional use permit for the buildings next month.
The 9.2-acre site had been planned as a residential housing development, according to online county maps, which had not materialized.
Grace Lutheran's plans for three smaller buildings instead of a large one received a positive response Monday from the commission, Golat said, as it would fit well with apartment buildings and homes in the surrounding area.
"The nice thing about this is it is being built at a residential scale, instead of an institutional scale," he said.
The land is mostly owned by the Betsy Barland Parker Trust, but real estate developer Robb Majeski also owns a couple of lots.
While Grace Lutheran is exempt from property taxes, it has negotiated annual payments with Eau Claire and Altoona to pay for its use of emergency services, winter road maintenance and other local government services that large facilities benefit from.
Like the neighboring OakLeaf Surgical Hospital, Grace Lutheran's move to Altoona marks another large health care oriented organization departing from its longtime facility in Eau Claire.
Eau Claire officials had been negotiating in spring with Grace Lutheran on 4½ acres in the city's Sky Park industrial park, but Christianson said that property had multiple issues that would have made it difficult to meet their needs.
In addition to requiring zoning changes and modifying the industrial park's covenants, the site also would have only allowed one building, instead of three with room to grow.
"We looked for site for over a year," he said. "In the Eau Claire metro area, it's very difficult to find a vacant piece of property that is 7-plus acres big."
Syverson Lutheran Home has served Grace Lutheran well, Christianson said, since it opened in 1966 with private rooms when many other nursing homes had residents sharing quarters. But for the past five years, the foundation has been planning for new facilities.
Dowd can be reached at 715-833-9204, 800-236-7077 or andrew.dowd@ecpc.com.
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