Florida senior living provider partners with NFL to build 33 new communities

Florida's Validus Senior Living and the NFL Alumni Association (NFLAA) have partnered to build assisted living and memory care facilities in major cities with a high concentration of retired NFL players. The first community will be built in Ocoee, Fla. and is expected to open in the summer of 2016, according to a press release.

"The strategic alliance focuses on providing a better lifestyle for retired NFL players who need assisted living and memory care services,” said Joe Pisarcik, president and CEO of the NFLAA in the press release. "With an aging population and more and more Americans needing memory care services, including some former NFL players, we want to give our members an option that we can stand behind." 

According to data released last year by the NFL and the NFL Players Association as part of a lawsuit by a former player, nearly 30 percent of NFL players will develop Alzheimer's disease or some other dementia-related brain condition, twice as high as the general population, reports the CoStar Group.

The Ocoee facility will include 124 units with a licensed bed capacity of 158 residents. Amenities include a pool, boardwalk, dog park, tiki hut, putting green, fishing pier and water views.

This is just the first facility of 33 that will be built over a five-year period with $1.1 billion in funding. "Nationwide, we have more than a billion dollars of funding planned to support this alliance throughout the next five years,” said developer Mark Bouldin in the press release.

Megan Combs

Megan Combs was Associate Editor of I Advance Senior Care / Long Term Living from 2013-2018.