A new community provides a place to age in place

 Erickson Senior Living saw the need for a continuing care retirement community in Lakewood Ranch. But it didn’t just dive into the market right away.

Instead, the Baltimore company, which operates two dozen managed-care communities in 11 states, spent time studying a potential piece of property and conducting focus groups with area residents. While there were options for senior living in Lakewood Ranch, it did not have a continuing care retirement community, a single campus that allows residents to move from independent living to assisted living to skilled nursing care without having to leave.

And the timing was such that Lakewood Ranch needed more choices for its residents of retirement age, especially those who had moved to the community when it first opened in the 1990s and were ready for their next phase of life. So when Erickson Senior Living announced its Emerson Lakes community in Lakewood Ranch in 2024, it got quite an enthusiastic response.

“In 42 years, we’ve done 23 other communities, and we’ve never had a priority list grow at the pace we have here,” says Adam Zubowsky, director of sales for Emerson Lakes. “These are proactive planners.”

Construction is underway on three residential buildings and a 50,000-square-foot clubhouse on the 46-acre property. The site is at 6045 White Eagle Blvd., just north of State Road 70. Erickson Senior Living, through an entity dubbed Emerson Lakes LLC, paid $37.21 million for the site Dec. 21, 2023, Manatee County property records show. The first phase of construction, according to a statement, has been supported by a $179.8 million loan Erickson obtained last October from Capital Funding Group, a subsidiary of Baltimore-based CFG Bank. “Across the nation, the demand for high-quality senior housing is far outpacing supply,” the CFG release states, “and Erickson Senior Living is at the forefront of closing that gap with new developments and expansions of existing communities.”

That first phase of Emerson Lakes will offer 315 residences with 25 different floor plan options, with the first residential building opening by the end of 2026 or early 2027 and the others following. Resort-style amenities will include a fitness center, swimming pool, dog park, walking trails, multiple on-campus dining options and a full-service unisex salon, barbershop and spa. An on-site medical center will be staffed by health care professionals specializing in senior care.

“Most folks, when they reach a certain point in life, they’re done with home ownership,” says Zubowsky. “But nobody wants to leave this area. They love it.

Photo by Lori Sax

“They want to move into a community that has it all, and they don’t want to move again,” he continues. “Emerson Lakes is lifestyle with peace of mind.”

The entrance fee for Emerson Lakes starts at around $400,000 and can go up to over $1 million depending on the floor plan residents choose. But 80% of that fee goes back to the residents or their families when they leave the community. Residents pay for a monthly service package that includes all utilities, all maintenance, dining credits at the on-site restaurants and access to the community’s amenities. And they no longer have to worry about paying for homeowner’s insurance or property taxes.

“It gives residents that predictable cost month to month,” says Zubowsky. “And then as they access different care levels or health care services, they would pay for those at that time, depending on their care needs.”

The community’s first three residential buildings are more than 90% reserved. But people’s plans change and cancellations do occur, since the reservation fee is refundable and completion is still a ways away. Zubowsky recommends folks get on the waitlist now — even if they’re not sure of their future plans.

“If you don’t want to move tomorrow, that’s great. We’re not even open,” he says. “A lot of our waitlist members don’t want to move for three, five, or eight years.

“They want to know when they’re ready they can get in,” he continues. “Because any community you want to go to and call home is going to have a waitlist. If it doesn’t have a waitlist, then there’s a reason why you were able to get in at the last minute. It’s probably not where you want to go.”

Because of the interest Emerson Lakes has seen, the community is hoping to break ground on a fourth building sometime this year. And it has approval from Manatee County to build up to 10 residential buildings in total and another clubhouse.

Its biggest challenge is people “just wish we were open today,” says Zubowsky. “They’re ready to make a move.”

Construction has become a longer process for projects all over the country, and Emerson Lakes is going above and beyond local code by opting for full concrete-block steel construction, high-impact windows, anchored metal roofing and a generator system. “Code requires none of this in this area; we’re just electing to do it,” says Zubowsky. “But it does prolong the construction process.”

Of course, the 23 previous communities Erickson Senior Living has built have provided plenty of insight and past experience to draw from during the planning and construction processes. “This isn’t our first rodeo, so the challenges are very little,” says Zubowsky. “Because to even have gotten to this point, you’re talking about years of market feedback and research before picking a property. We say no to a lot more properties than we say yes to.”

Much of the leadership staff at Emerson Lakes will come from other Erickson Senior Living continuing care communities. “The leaders who will be running Emerson Lakes are already doing these jobs today at another community,” he says. 

Zubowsky often gets calls from prospective residents who are only considering continuing care retirement communities. But he also helps educate people who are just beginning their research into senior living options.

“We are their education, and we encourage them to drive south or north and go look at other continuing care retirement communities so they can compare and contrast us to them,” he says. “But while they do that, join our waitlist, since it’s fully refundable ... And we’re blessed that a lot of the time not only do they stay on the priority list, they’re telling their friends to come join as well.”