The Springs at Lake Oswego

In 2012, The Springs Living, which owns and operates 18 senior living communities in Oregon and Montana, purchased Carman Oaks in Lake Oswego, Ore. The community was renamed The Springs at Carman Oaks and two years later underwent a major renovation of its 145 independent living, 17 assisted living, and 16 memory care units, with an additional expansion including a swimming pool, spa, wellness center, gym, salon, dining options, and outdoor patio.

After a few years, however, Fee Stubblefield, founder and CEO of The Springs Living (McMinnville, Ore.), saw that many of Carman Oaks’ independent living residents looked elsewhere when they needed additional care because of the small number of assisted living apartments available.

To address the issue, Stubblefield set his sights on developing another senior living community nearby to “complement what we already had,” he says.

Stubblefield also saw the new project as an opportunity to better integrate The Springs Living within the greater urban fabric of the surrounding neighborhood, an effort that would both distinguish it and diversify the provider’s offerings (Carman Oaks, for example, is located in a secluded woodside setting).

Stubblefield also sought to create a flagship that would serve as a gateway to Lake Oswego, a bustling town of 40,000, which first required finding an ideal location.

The Springs at Lake Oswego site challenges

A vacant 4.5-acre property not far from a major interstate and a connector between residential and commercial districts provided just that for the new The Springs at Lake Oswego, opened in January 2020.

“It’s a perfect location because it is front and center,” Stubblefield says, adding that The Springs at Lake Oswego anchors one end of a pedestrian path that leads to shops and restaurants.

However, despite being a perfect location, the site itself came with several challenges including 30 feet of height change diagonally from one corner of the site to another.

Additionally, anything built on the site would have to stay below a 45-foot height limit as required by local zoning regulations, with that limit measured from the existing grade. This meant that builders couldn’t remove dirt and measure from a new, lowered grade, explains Ray Yancey, director of senior living at LRS Architects (Portland, Ore.), which served as architect of record on the project.

“We didn’t have much flexibility with the height of the building,” he says.

Furthermore, city zoning required that existing mature trees (greater than 8 feet in diameter) located within the first 8 feet of the property line along the street frontage be preserved and that 20 percent of the project be dedicated to open space, such as outdoor areas for activities and landscaping as opposed to the building and parking, Yancey says.

To overcome these challenges, LRS started with the steep grade, deciding to tuck the structured parking into the hill on the property’s north side, creating approximately 74,000 gross square feet of underground parking with 195 stalls. (There are also 32 surface parking spaces located near the entry and in the back of the building.)

The move saved money, as well, because the team didn’t have to create a temporary structure to support the soil while constructing the building. Placing parking underground also allowed the full site to be used for the building: a five-story, 373,000-gross-square-foot structure arranged as two interlocking rings that formed north and south courtyards.

On the community’s first floor, the north half houses the below-grade parking, while the south half consists of the main entry and amenities such as the physical therapy office, theater, wellness center, and pool, as well as an independent living courtyard and dining along the south edge.

Amenities together

The choice to group amenities on the first floor, rather than spread them throughout the building, was to “activate the commons and give residents easy access to outdoor spaces and the local community,” says Lisa Warnock, who at press time served as director of housing interiors at LRS Architects. (she is now principal at Thoma-Holec Design.)

Residential apartments, including 117 assisted living, 24 memory care, and 75 independent living units, are arranged on the second to fifth floors. Additionally, the south portion of the fifth floor features outdoor amenities, including a wine bar, dog run, bocce court, barbecue area, giant chess board, raised planter garden, an 18-hole putting green, and ample covered seating.

Thirty of the assisted living units on the third floor are “assisted living plus” or “hybrid” apartments, which are fully accessible and constructed so they could be fully licensed as assisted living, as per the State of Oregon. They are smaller than the independent units but feature a higher level of finishes, full kitchens, and in-unit washers and dryers. The Springs Living’s plan was to promote the units as independent living with the ability to become assisted living and allow residents to age in place.

However, after a year of operating, Stubblefield says the hybrid apartments have the community’s highest vacancy rate. “Folks either want independent living or the full assisted living options,” he says, adding that the community is making plans to either turn them into fully licensed assisted living units or renovate them as larger, independent units. “We often experiment in our new communities, and while the overall community is almost full and has been a resounding success, this one small part did not turn out as we anticipated.”

Greenfield Health services

The Springs at Lake Oswego is also the first of The Springs Living’s 18 communities to offer medical services via a dedicated clinical care team at the community. Greenfield Health provides its member-based services via a clinic area that comprises a reception area and exam room adjacent to the community’s fitness center and first-floor spa.

“The next generation of residents doesn’t want to spend precious time driving to doctor appointments and sitting in waiting rooms. They want to be living every moment,” Stubblefield says. “It only makes sense to provide appropriate levels of healthcare support to meet both of these trends.”

Sullivanesque style

When it came time to develop the building’s overall aesthetic, the project team chose a Sullivanesque style, which is based on the work of Louis Sullivan (a mentor of Frank Lloyd Wright and an influential figure in the Prairie School movement). They then married it with The Springs Living’s signature Northwest-inspired approach that integrates a modern feel with the casualness of the outdoors. “Basically, it’s sophistication meets nature,” Stubblefield says.

For example, LRS chose brick masonry for the building’s base—a material, Yancy says, that reflects Sullivan’s style while also tying in with a nearby office campus. To enhance the residential feel and reduce the visual scale of the community, LRS specified vertical bay windows, recessed decks, and a lot of glazing. All of these elements “brought a modern and sophisticated look, but it was also a style that [local] people could see themselves living in,” Yancey says.

Each building’s interior courtyards provide a resident-centered space that helps bring views to the outdoors and natural light deep into the building, adds Warnock. “Glazing the building’s exterior and also the interior courtyard side of the building, we can pull daylight all the way through the entire structure of the building,” she says.

For the interiors, the project team sought a contemporary take on the Northwest to create an ambience that locals are used to, Warnock says. The approach incorporates materials such as warm walnut woods and natural stone to create calming and soothing spaces. Results include wallcoverings with nature patterns, floral-themed carpets, timbered wood, and a natural rock wall juxtaposed by an undulating smooth walnut vertical element in the lobby.

Maximizing connections

A particularly unique element of The Springs at Lake Oswego is its more than 40,000 square feet of secure, private outdoor amenity and landscaped space, including the two internal courtyards and expansive roof terrace. Stubblefield says the goal was to maximize outdoor space to fit with the outdoor lifestyle of residents used to the Northwest culture.

“Our residents live very active, very outdoorsy lives. They appreciate the natural beauty of the place they choose to call home,” Stubblefield says.

As it turned out, the outdoor spaces were not only critical as a best practice to provide residents with fresh air and sunlight, but because the building opened during the COVID-19 pandemic, the exterior amenities “allowed residents to have full lives because they could be outdoors exercising and dining,” Warnock says.

Outdoor spaces also help with connecting residents to the surrounding neighborhood, or “engaging the edges,” as Stubblefield puts it. “The building is intended to feel as if it’s a part of the overall community and not as though we’re putting people away somewhere,” Warnock adds.

For example, on the main independent living level, a sidewalk around the building ties into the town’s pedestrian sidewalk. An outdoor plaza on the southern corner has a double-sided water feature, seating area, and a firepit for residents to view the street scene while still experiencing privacy. On an opposite corner is a bistro with outdoor seating separated from the public with low landscaping.

“Residents can see people coming and going. It creates a connection to the street and activity,” Yancey says.

 

Project details for The Springs at Lake Oswego

Project completion date: January 2020

Owner: The Springs Living

Total building area: 373,000 sq. ft.

Total construction cost: N/A

Cost/sq. ft.: N/A

Architecture: Myhre Group Architects (design), LRS Architects (architect of record)

Interior design: Myhre Group Architects (design), LRS Architects (architect of record)

Engineering: TM Rippey Consulting Engineers (structural), AAI Engineering (civil), Koch Landscape Architecture (landscape)

Construction: Todd Construction

Carpet/flooring: Tandus, Mohawk, Patcraft, Mannington, Johnsonite, Armstrong, Encore

Ceiling/wall systems: Armstrong, Plyboo

Doors/locks/hardware: Assa Abloy

Fabric/textiles: CF Stinson, Arc Com, Architex, Valley Forge Fabrics, Designtex

Furniture—seating/casegoods: Kwalu, Fairfield, Flexsteel, Hekman, Shelby Williams, Lanz, Alltrades

Handrails/wall guards: Construction Specialties

Lighting: Lithonia, Lucifer, Lumenalpha, Cerno, Hubberton Forge, Shakuff Custom Glass Lighting, SeaGull, Feiss,

Rejuvenation, Destination Lighting, Teron, Eaton, Leviton, GlobaLux, WAC Lighting

Signage/wayfinding: Ramer Enterprises

Surfaces—solid/other: Wilsonart, Pionite, Formica, Lab Designs, Nevamar, Cambria, Pental Quartz, Caesarstone, Eldorado Stone, Daltile, Panolam, Johsonite

Wallcoverings: Trikes, MDC, Koroseal

Tile: Daltile, United Tile, Pratt & Larson, Ann Sacks, Porcelanosa, Fireclay Tile

 

Stacey Freed is a freelance writer based in Pittsford, N.Y. She can be reached at stacey.freed@gmail.com.