New Agency on Aging site proposed

A proposal to relocate the Flathead County Agency on Aging facility in the former Homefitters furniture store on U.S. 93 North as part of an expansive senior living community was presented to the county commissioners on Thursday.

Dr. Shane Hill, who owns and operates MedNorth Urgent Care, is the managing member of Glacier Life Sciences, which owns the former furniture building and 80 acres of farmland surrounding the building to the north and east.

The furniture building had been considered for an eating disorder clinic, but that proposal was sidelined because similar treatment facilities recently have been built in larger cities such as Portland, Spokane and Bellevue, Wash.

During his presentation to the commissioners, Hill pointed out that the 12,500-square-foot Homefitters building meets the county’s projected need of 12,000 square feet for the Agency on Aging. It’s handicap-accessible on one level and is centrally located in the county.

“I believe this is a very reasonable, financially sound and fiscally responsible solution to the present problem with the current AOA facility,” Hill said.

The commissioners have been mulling where to build a new Agency on Agency facility to handle a growing need for senior services but have not yet made a decision on where the new center would be. For 10 years, the county has been leasing a building on Kelly Road to house the Agency on Aging.

Money for a new building is included in the county’s capital-improvement plan for 2015.

Hill said the central location in north Kalispell would not only provide access for the greatest number of seniors across the Flathead Valley, but also would be more efficient and cost-effective for the Meals on Wheels program to deliver to the three largest population centers in Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls.

The building is designed with free-spanning trusses that allow for easy space planning and remodeling, he added. At his expense, Hill had Architects Design Group draw a potential layout for the AOA offices, kitchen and dining facilities and showed the renderings to the commissioners. An elevator would be installed to provide access to a mezzanine area where more offices and a lounge could be located.

“There’s a nice courtyard in back surrounded by mature trees,” Hill said. “There’s plenty of room for parking.”

Hill outlined two options for the county: Either buy the building as is for $935,000 or fair market value (whichever is less) or lease the building with an option to buy.

Using the Homefitters building for the Agency on Aging would create a nice anchor for the planned senior community, but it’s not essential for development plans to move forward, said John Toothman of Nations Capital Advisors, Hill’s financial partner.

They’re in discussions with qualified national developers to convert the acreage into a master-planned senior community that would house up to 500 seniors. The northern portion of the property would be designated for active senior living facilities with up to 250 dwelling units when fully complete in seven to 10 years.

About nine acres in the midsection would be developed as low-rise medical offices and supporting professional suites. The southeastern portion of the site would be dedicated to state-of-the-art assisted-living and advanced senior care, nursing home and memory care, as well as a grouping of homes for adults with autism.

Toothman expects the entire community would cost $150 million to develop.

The master plan emphasizes open space with amenities such as an outdoor amphitheater, animal-friendly areas, interconnecting bike/pedestrian and golf-cart paths and water features.

Glacier Life Sciences has retained the nationally recognized firm SFCS of Roanoke, Va., to complete the design process. The firm has designed more than 150 senior communities across the United States.

“To my knowledge there is no such master planned senior community in the entire state of Montana, which increases the appeal and value of this project, both to potential residents and the community itself,” Hill said, noting the boost such a community would give to local economic development.

The demographics for building such a community are there, Toothman said. CNN Money recently named the Flathead Valley as the 11th most popular retirement spot in the country.

Hill said a state study indicates close to 27 percent of the valley’s population will be age 60 and older by 2025.

“Those numbers don’t take into account the people moving to the valley,” he said. “We’re on the cusp of an influx. We have to be forward-thinking. ... We can’t keep putting a Band-Aid on a hemorrhage.”

Hill said he has had several offers to lease the Homefitters building for various uses, but “putting AOA there makes the most sense.” He asked the commissioners to consider his proposal and then meet with him in a couple of weeks.

The commissioners did not discuss the proposal, but afterward Commissioner Cal Scott said he’s enthused about the project. The county is at a crossroads with how to proceed with providing senior services, and the commissioners will have to address the aging population whether they embrace this proposal or not, he said.

“Seldom can we say, ‘If we build it, they will come,’ but this may be one case where it’s true,” Scott said. “We either step up to the plate now or pay the huge cost of being in a reactive position in the future. We’ll be faced with much greater demand on the taxpayers to care for an ill-equipped aging community.”

Commissioner Pam Holmquist said afterward that the commissioners are looking at all options to come up with the best solution for the Agency on Aging.

“Now it’s a matter of doing our due diligence,” she said. “It’s definitely an interesting proposal.”

Commissioner Gary Krueger said he’s familiar with the property because he farmed it 30 years ago. He declined to comment on Hill’s proposal.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.