At first glance, Bloom Living in Olathe, Kan., looks like your typical independent living community. The 95-unit building, which opened in October 2015, offers studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units and a standard list of amenities, such as full in-room kitchens; an on-site salon; recreational programs; laundry room; computer center; and outdoor walking paths, gardens, and gathering spaces.
The twist comes in à la carte options, such as meal plans, laundry and cleaning services, errands concierge, and call support and health services, which residents can choose to add on to their living arrangements, allowing them to pay only for those extra services that they want. And choice played a role in the community’s design, as well.
For example, residents have the option to have a washer/dryer in their rooms, use the common laundry areas on each floor, or pay for on-site laundry service. Flex space in the apartments can be turned into extra storage, a desk area, expanded closet, or “anything that works well with their lifestyle,” says Debbie Walker, regional director of independent living at Midwest Health.
For meals, residents can choose to cook for themselves, or opt into the catered meal plan that’s delivered to their door three times a day. “The apartments are as independent as the individual wants them to be,” she says.
“All of those things that many times you see as a core component of a higher-priced independent living community are still very much available to people. They would just pick them up individually at the time they need it,” she says. “It empowers them to have more control over their finances and their overall life.”
The concept is a partnership between Midwest Health Inc. (Topeka, Kan.) and real estate firm Complete LLC, which plans to expand Bloom Living to other locations, including Lenexa, Kan.
Austin Chamberlin, developer/partner at Complete LLC (Overland Park, Kan.), says the concept is designed to appeal to a range of seniors—from those looking for an affordable rate with base services up to someone who wants to pay for all-inclusive living—and to fill a gap in the independent living marketplace. “There are a lot of new folks who are coming online who need a range of housing of options,” he says.
In developing the concept, the partners set out to establish a set of brand standards that provide a model that can be replicated as it expands. Lee Eaton, vice president of operations at Midwest Health, says part of that effort was to create the concept as freestanding and not on a campus with other senior living communities. “We saw the need for people to feel they had autonomy of where to go and also feel they could age in place and there wasn’t a hurry to push them down the line into another service level,” he says.
The three-story L-shaped building features two wings of apartment units with public areas in the center, including a central living room with common kitchen on the first floor, a library and reading area on the second, and a gathering area for games and other activities on the third. These common areas are designed to become the social hubs of the community by flexing for different activities, such as potlucks, game nights, and happy hours.
The entry vestibule has a two-sided fireplace, sitting area, and computer desk for residents, while an outdoor courtyard is nestled behind the building.
Jan Sova, senior interior designer at Midwest Health, says she chose materials, colors, and furnishings for the communal spaces to appeal to baby boomers, which meant moving away from a Queen Anne look to a more contemporary aesthetic with a gray and green color palette and modern furnishings.
Working within a tight budget, she says she used statement materials in key places, such as granite countertops in the community kitchen. “Then in the corridors, instead of using a wallcovering, we went with painted surfaces to give it some cost savings,” she says.
The 64,000-square-foot building features studio and one- and two-bedroom apartments, each with a kitchen, appliances, walk-in closet, individual heating/cooling controls, and a private bathroom with step-in shower. The one-and two-bedroom options also include a large entry closet with private bedrooms. Residents bring their own furnishings and décor.
Walker says it’s too early to calculate how many residents are choosing to add à la cart options, but feedback heard so far has indicated that the feature is attracting seniors to the community. “They’re drawn to the concept of having the catered living services available and not spending the additional money for them until they really need it.”
Anne DiNardo is senior editor of Environments for Aging. She can be reached at [email protected].
For a source list relating to this project, see “Bloom Living: Project Breakdown.”
