Memory care building boom in the heart of Texas

The overall assisted living market may have seen a slugglish start to new construction in the first quarter of 2014, but memory care building is booming, especially deep in the heart of Texas.

One of the hottest areas is Austin, where the LaSalle Group has started construction on two memory care-centered assisted living communities. Combined, Autumn Leaves of Northwest Austin and Autumn Leaves of Georgetown eventually will add nearly 100 units dedicated to residents who need memory care, according to Irving Levin Associates’ Senior Living Development News.

U.S. Memory Care, LLC, also broke ground in Austin, beginning construction on its 60,000-square-foot, 75-unit Cedar Park community, designed on the “Main Street neighborhoods” model. The company has said it plans to build 20 more memory care communities in the southern United States during the next three years.

Silverado Senior Living opened the Onion Creek Memory Care Community in Austin in May 2013 as a dedicated community for those who have Lewy body dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other forms of cognition loss. The community offers a gourmet cooking staff, pet-friendly residential units, secure outdoors spaces, gardens, project areas and family playgrounds. This month, Silverado opened its Fort Worth Memory Care Community, and it plans to open another location, in Bee Cave, Texas, this summer.

Why Austin? It’s No. 1 on the 2014 Forbes list of America’s 20 fastest-growing cities, and those demographics include plenty of baby boomers. Travis County, Texas—which includes the cities of Austin, Round Rock, Georgetown, Cedar Park, San Marcos and Bee Cave—boasts the nation’s fastest-growing population of adults aged 55 to 64 years, the Community Impact News reported in January. The Forbes Top 20 list included three other Texas cities: Dallas (No. 4), Houston (No. 10) and San Antonio (No. 20).

Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.