New Plymouth Harbor building breaks ground

With the growing demand for more assisted living and memory-care facilities in Sarasota, Plymouth Harbor plans to meet those needs in fall 2017 with its Northwest Garden building.

“People are living longer and living beyond things that used to kill them off,” said Gordon Okawa, Plymouth Harbor vice president of marketing and community affairs. “There’s a growing need for more memory-care and assisted-living units.”           

Plymouth Harbor held a groundbreaking for the 70-unit building Dec. 14. The 70 residences will include 10 independent-living units, 30 memory-care units and 30 assisted-living units.

“There’s an underserved population of people who have the need for memory care,” Okawa said. “It’s a national issue, and until they find a cure for Alzheimer’s and other dementias, this will be an ongoing need and demand.”

Although the building will not open until fall 2017, the 10 two-bedroom independent-living apartments are already sold out, and 50% of the assisted living units will be filled internally. Whatever remains available will be open to the Sarasota community.

A new water tower with larger capacity will be built on the east side of the property. Once that is up and running in January or February, the current one, which stands on the future site of the Northwest Garden building, will be demolished, and construction on the building will begin.

 “Our community is currently 100% occupied, so having this new project is essential,” Okawa said. “We’re at a very strong point, and we believe we will have no problem filling all the units.”

The estimated cost for the entire project is $35 million, and 40 new staff members will be hired to work in the new building.