Taylor Community expansion will add 30 more residences

LACONIA — An expansion to Taylor Community will add nearly 30 more places for people to live in the neighborhood off Union Avenue.

The nonprofit organization's multi-million-dollar project will renovate the existing Taylor Home building to create a 40-unit assisted living location, and construct 18 memory care units.

This is part of what Taylor Community Board Chair David Pearlman described as an “ambitious seven-year strategic plan,” which will reshape the organization's three campuses and expand services for seniors in the Lakes Region.

“We absolutely will be investing multiple millions of dollars in Laconia,” Pearlman said. “This is an investment in the people, places and purpose of the growing needs of our aging population.”

Pearlman recognized the significance of the building’s history, spanning more than a century in the city. Currently, there are 30 assisted living apartments, and the rebuild will create 10 more spots.

He said the goal is to keep the current look of the building, so the architectural challenge is for the front of the structure to look similar, but provide a modern assisted living facility inside its walls.

“It is incredible that the current building is 115 years old and has served its purpose,” said Pearlman. “We have done everything we can without the next step. The plan, in stage two or three, is to take that building down, reimagine, and recreate it.”

Before this can be done, however, the memory care units need to be constructed.

Pearlman said the first priority is to get started on the new memory care neighborhood. This will be on the Laconia campus, adjacent to the Ledgeview building. There will also be increased nursing capacity on the Laconia campus through the conversion of Ledgeview’s Opechee Harbor Memory Care unit into nine nursing units.

Pearlman said staff hope to start construction next spring or summer.

Once the memory care neighborhood is built, and some renovations at Ledgeview are complete, Pearlman said work will start on the Taylor Home building. Pearlman said the redesign will use the footprint of the current building.

Pearlman said there are also plans to add two more independent living cottages in Laconia, bringing the total number of cottages to 131.

On Wolfeboro's Sugar Hill campus, independent living cottages are being added, as well. Pearlman said leaders are trying to figure out how to maximize the opportunity the lake front area that campus provides. The hope is to finalize these plans in the coming months.

“When you think about the Lakes Region, we are reinvesting in the area that we are so committed to,” Pearlman said.

Pearlman said these expansions “can’t happen soon enough,” but is unsure of the timeline, as some aspects need municipal approval. He said the funds are there and the money has been allocated.

“There are architectural design aspects, city approvals and such, that need to be finalized,” Pearlman said.

Pearlman said the board has been working quietly as a group with the senior management team in developing the expansion plans. He said this path makes the most sense financially and operationally, saying this “gets us to the end zone,” with more services and more complete continuum of care opportunities.

“We have very methodically and professionally approached this with state-of-the-art in mind, but being responsible with the pocketbook in the end,” Pearlman said.

In the past few weeks, Taylor Community leaders have been holding town hall meetings with residents to keep them informed about what the future holds. Pearlman said there was a “standing room only” crowd in Laconia, where he and President Michael Flaherty took questions and explained what was to come.

“It was tremendously upbeat,” Pearlman said. “Folks who have been exposed to it thus far love the plan, and I expect more of the same.”

Taylor Community is the largest nonprofit senior living provider in the region, with more than 800 residents served by about 380 staff members on campuses in Laconia, Meredith and Wolfeboro.

Flaherty said these renovation projects are about preparing for the future, while also honoring the past.

“From the very beginning, Edward Taylor believed in building new to meet the standards of his time,” Flaherty said. “Our redevelopment today continues that same tradition — ensuring our residents live in communities that are designed to meet today’s best practices.”