Park Square Homes is introducing a new senior living concept with its first Arya branded community at the former Sonoma Resort in Kissimmee’s Tapestry master-planned community.
Sid Gautam, commercial real estate director for Park Square, told GrowthSpotter the company expects to invest $30 million in the 160,000-square-foot facility. The building will combine 119 senior living units where residents can transition from independent to assisted living simply by increasing the level of care. It will be licensed as a 145-bed Assisted Living Facility.
But that’s not what makes it unique.
“We are going to be a pioneer in the senior living space,” Gautam said. “Our facilities are based on the unique concept of intergenerational care by having independent living and assisted living units attached to children’s daycare.”
He said the 12,500-square-foot daycare would have its own wing in the building with a transitional space linking it to the 3-story senior tower. They picked the name “Arya” because it translates to “noble” or “precious” in Sanskrit.
Two years ago Park Square Homes Vice President Vishaal Gupta first broached to topic of pairing an ALF with a kids’ daycare with neighboring facilities in Brighton Lakes. That project is on hold for now while the company moves forward with the Tapestry parcel.
Gautam said Gupta believes children and seniors can benefit from regular interaction and shared activities. Research has shown that for seniors in assisted living, quality of life improves and the transition to memory care gets delayed if they have regular interaction with children.
“These seniors need more than care,” he said. “They would love to have more creative and meaningful time during the day. We’re trying to come up with a kind of program where we can have supervised interaction between the seniors and the kids.”
Some of those activities could includes crafts, music and community gardening.
Park Square has selected American Healthcare Management Group as the operator for the IL/ALF. Amazing Explorers Academy, which offers a STEAM-focused curriculum, has signed on as the daycare operator.
“Programming will play an important role as we finalize the design,” Gautam said. Park Square has engaged Baker Barrios to design the building.
The project goes to the city’s Development Review Committee on Feb. 5.
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