Parc Communities has made a name for itself by bringing hospitality-enriched independent living and assisted living communities to affluent, densely populated suburban locations, primarily in the southeastern part of the U.S. “The company was formed on the concept of delivering a high-end, high-touch experience to residents,” says Andy Slavin, principal and executive vice president at Parc Communities (Atlanta). “Our DNA has always been about hospitality.”
In 2013, the operator began considering an expansion outside its traditional markets with a new location in Bryan, Texas, to be part of the Traditions Club and Community, an upscale, master planned development near Texas A&M University. The site was a natural fit: Located on 1,000 acres of rolling woodlands, the property already features luxury homes; a Nicklaus Design golf course; and nearby retail, dining, and entertainment attractions. Another draw was the community’s affiliations with the neighboring Texas A&M University Health Science Center and CHI St. Joseph Health MatureWell Lifestyle Center. “They brought a unique overlay of key lifestyle components that we think positively benefit senior health and wellness,” Slavin says.
With the principals of Parc Communities both from Houston, and Slavin himself a graduate of Texas A&M, the Texas market had natural appeal for the company’s growth plans. After touring Traditions and seeing the dynamic growth of the market, combined with the nearby amenities, the partners saw a compelling opportunity to create something special, Slavin says.
In November 2015, ground broke on the 186,000-square-foot Parc at Traditions, set on approximately 13 acres within Traditions. The new community, which was completed in spring 2018, comprises independent living, assisted living, and memory care—Parc Communities’ first time offering a continuum of care for residents. “It’s been a further evolution of our target market,” he says.
Nature of the site
Parc Communities designs each of its sites to fit with the surrounding region, so for its Texas debut, the project team sought to integrate the building into the heavily wooded parcel. The design took advantage of the site’s natural features and treescape to create an organic building shape and layout that winds across the site instead of in a straight horizontal orientation, says Rockland Berg, principal, business development, senior living, at Three, the Dallas-based architecture firm on the project. “It’s nested into the typography,” he says.
For the entrance, the project team preserved the trees at the front of the property and added a curvilinear drive that leads to a front porch veranda and port cochere, creating a “sense of discovery” as residents and guests arrive. “You come around through the trees and the building kind of reveals itself,” Berg says.
After maximizing the natural setting, designers then turned to the architectural style of the community, seeking to adapt Parc’s hospitality-driven model with a vernacular representative of Texas Hill Country, a geographic region of central and south Texas that’s dominated by bluebonnet flowers and limestone outcroppings. Also inspired by the region’s signature Texas ranch houses that feature large porches and natural materials, the overall aesthetic for Parc at Traditions is a “mash-up of Texas Hill Country meets Carmel, Calif.,” Slavin says, with the Hill Country relating to the architectural style, including the building materials, and the Carmel reference speaking more to the luxurious resort lifestyle, open “Californian” floor plans with lots of natural light, and amenities that accentuate outdoor living experiences. “It’s kind of a casual elegance with interiors that are more transitional than traditional.”
Specifically, the building’s entrance includes a concierge desk and a nearby living room with a fireplace and full-height windows that offer views of the natural setting, as well as a porch and event space. Residential amenities include a mix of formal and informal dining venues, a wellness club, and an aquatic center with a heated saltwater swimming pool. Outside, the building elevations feature natural locally sourced stone, wood timbers, plaster, and large overhangs and porches. “It’s a very natural and authentic use of materials to protect from the hot Texas summers and sometimes the cold winters,” Berg says.
One challenge on the project was overcoming some of the building inefficiencies created by using a site-specific building layout. For example, the community comprises three buildings, including a four-story independent living building with 91 one- and two-bedroom apartments divided between two wings; an assisted living building with 44 private residential units that connects off one of the independent living wings; and a memory care building that’s connected to assisted living with 24 studio suites. To balance operational efficiency with delivering a resort-type experience, the project team’s goal was to keep services, including food, laundry, and housekeeping, from crossing with residents in the corridors utilizing separate front- and back-of-house spaces. “That’s a premium design feature,” Berg says. “If you put it out front and center, that’s probably the least expensive way to do it, but it doesn’t give you that hospitality feel.”
Taking advantage of the natural grade of the property, the project team also added a discreet service drive behind the care buildings to access a service core hub.
“All food/beverage and housekeeping are centralized here to create a more efficient operational model,” Berg says. Supplies and materials are brought in on a lower level and migrate vertically into the community, while the main kitchen is adjacent to the independent living dining venues and accessible to the assisted living and memory care floors through a service elevator. Smaller satellite prep pantries serve the licensed care dining venues.
Resident experience
With 80 percent of residents moving into assisted living or memory care coming from the community’s independent living neighborhood, Parc wanted to ensure residents didn’t experiences a step down in experience. As a result, architectural detailing such as crown molding and wood materials and the level of finishes in the assisted living and memory care communities mirror those used in independent living. “We have an obligation to maintain that level of quality of experience throughout our lifestyle continuum,” Slavin says.
Residential unit sizes vary, with independent living apartments averaging 1,000 square feet with open floor plans and large windows and balconies or porches to help bring views and daylight inside. Color palettes and artwork themes vary between the floors to help residents navigate the building. Units in the assisted living neighborhood measure 300-400 square feet, and memory care offers 272-square-foot single studio suites and incorporates a centralized, secure courtyard. Each neighborhood features similar amenity spaces, such as a theater and library, that are scaled appropriately to the setting.
Furthermore, the community’s affiliations with the Texas A&M University Health Science Center and CHI St. Joseph Health MatureWell Lifestyle Center provide residents with the opportunity to access additional health, rehabilitation, and wellness services via the community transit program. This combination of curated offerings and high-end living environments has made Parc’s first venture in Texas a success, Slavin says. “What we wanted to do was provide a very high-end, hospitality-enriched senior living experience,” he says. “Even as we’ve moved from a pure independent model back into assisted living and now memory care, we’ve continued that hospitality perspective and infused it into our licensed care offerings.”
Project details:
Project name: Parc at Traditions
Completion date: March 2018
Owner: Parc Traditions LP
Total building area: 186,000 sq. ft.
Construction cost: N/A
Cost/sq. ft.: N/A
Architecture: Three
Interior design: Studio Six5
Contracting: Rogers-O’Brien
Engineering: RLG Consultants (structural), PE Services (MEP), Schultz Engineering (civil)
Construction: Rogers-O’Brien
Carpet/flooring: Shaw, Mohawk
Ceiling/wall systems: Armstrong
Wall coverings: Koroseal
Doors/locks/hardware: Assa Abloy
Door frames: American Direct Inc.
Auto sliding doors: Stanley Access Tech
Asphalt shingles: Tampko
Weather barriers: Tremco Barriers
OSB sheathing: LP
Fiber cement siding: James Harding (board and batten)
Exterior materials: Mezger Enterprises
Anne DiNardo is executive editor of Environments for Aging. She can be reached at [email protected].
