Mayor Daniel Knapik said the the new community at 551 North Road is another key factor in the city’s redevelopment efforts.
Tadd M. McClellan, exeuctive vice president of management for Armbrook Village, stands in the kitchen of one of the faciltiyâs upgraded apartments during a tour for community members Friday.
WESTFIELD – Developers led a tour Friday of the $19.4 million Armbrook Village senior independent/assisted living housing project, which is scheduled to open April 1.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik said the the new community at 551 North Road is another key factor in the city’s redevelopment efforts.
“Armbrook Village is a vital addition to the Westfield in the contribution it is making to the growing economy in the region by adding more than 75 new full-time and part-time jobs,” he said.
There will be a job fair at the site on Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for new employees who are to be trained and in place by mid-March.
Tadd M. McClellan, executive vice president of management for parent company Senior Living Residences, touted the personal connection he and developer Michael F. McCarthy have had in the project, and will continue to have.
“We know how our own families could have benefited from a place like this,” he said.
The 109,000-square-foot facility offers a program dedicated to Alzheimer’s patients within its Compass Memory Support Neighborhood, which is affiliated with Boston University’s School of Medicine’s Alzheimer’s Disease Center.
The inspiration for the development and its memory-care unit came from McCarthy’s late mother, Jean, whose influence continues at Armbrook where a second-floor arts, media and computer room abuts Jean’s Kitchen, a kitchen that will be used for cooking demonstrations and projects for the residents.
Among the 122 studio, single and double apartments are a dining room, a private dining room, a fitness center, putting green, patio garden, a theater, an Internet café, a pub, a chapel and even something just for the men – a room equipped with a big screen television, card tables and furnished in rich leather.
The project has received tax-increment financing from the city and the state that should save the project $1.3 million in property taxes over five years.
McClellan said prices at Armbrook will vary depending on the amount of care require and the apartment. Independent living units will range from $2,250 a month for a studio to $3,280 a month for a two-bedroom; assisted living will range from $3,850 to $4,995 and month; and memory-care starts at $4,980 and goes up to $7,500 a month for double-occupancy, typically used by a husband and a wife with memory problems.