Assisted living for Sonoma

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© 2004 North Bay Business Journal


BY MAX LAMONT
STAFF REPORTER

SONOMA -- Construction has begun on what will be the first assisted living, Alzheimer's, and dementia care facility in the City of Sonoma, Avalon at Sonoma. The project is a collaboration between Vintage Senior Housing, an Orange County-based company, and Lewis-Pipgras, a development group out of Sacramento.

Avalon at Sonoma will consist of 93 units, with 71 assigned to assisted and independent living and 22 designated for Alzheimer's and dementia care. All units will be housed in one building at 91 Napa Road. Delivery is expected in the spring.

Tenants at the project will sign month-to-month agreements that provide hotel-type services such as laundry, linen service, transportation, activities, and meals. The bulk of the units will be studios and one bedrooms, though there will be four two-bedroom units. Processing fees will hover around $1,500, and units will rent for $2,650 to $4,500 a month. Costs will vary for those with special needs.

The parties involved in the project do not believe that demand will be a problem.

“Our demographic studies showed that within a ten mile radius, this area had some of the wealthiest populations in the state,” says Brian Flornes, a principal at Vintage. “And while there are bigger markets in the state in terms of age of the population, we are very excited about this opportunity.”


Annexation took time

Lewis-Pipgras purchased the 2.8-acre site for $800,000 in 1999 with the intention of building an assisted living facility in partnership with Regent Assisted Living, a company that has since gone into bankruptcy. However, because the property was not within the city limits, the developer group was forced to get the site pre-zoned and annexed to the city.

“The annexation process took time, but it was nothing abnormal,” says Frank Pipgras, president of Lewis-Pipgras. “There was almost no opposition, and there was broad support for the project from the planning commission.”

David Goodison, a planning administrator with the city, agrees.

“Because there were other properties that needed to be annexed along with the Pipgras site to maintain some regularity in the city boundaries, the process dragged a bit but otherwise went fairly smoothly.”

Mr. Goodison adds that local demographics or political pressures did not factor into the city's approval.


Finding Vintage

Meanwhile, the collapse of Regent drove Lewis-Pipgras into the arms of Vintage, the first group the developer contacted. Vintage will be the sole operator of the site, with Lewis-Pipgras retaining an equity stake.

This will be Vintage's tenth project in the state and third in the Bay Area. The company, founded in 1998 by Brian Flornes and Eric Davidson following their departure from ARV Assisted Living, built and manages two other assisted living projects in the area: Avalon at Brush Creek in Santa Rosa and Avalon at the Berkshire in Berkeley.

Vintage has set up a marketing office for the new project at 669 Broadway in Sonoma, where interested parties can view framed site plans and color boards of the furnishings and equipment that will inhabit the units. The project will begin taking deposits for units in roughly 60 days. For more information, call 888-739-7871.