Senior living facilities target Houston growth

HOUSTON – Senior living communities are popping up all over Houston, with the potential to create hundreds of jobs.

• Emeritus Senior Living has broken ground on Imperial Park in Sugar Land. The 120-bed assisted-living property is predicted to cost $21 million with a 2014 completion.

  Emeritus is opening another development at 24025 Kingwood Place in Kingwood by end of 2012. The cost of land and construction is estimated at $18 million. Each community is 104,000 sf and will create about 50 full-time jobs once open.
   

• The Abbey at Westminster Plaza, at 2865 Westminster Plaza Dr., is building 144 independent living units to be connected to its current structure, which houses 164 assisted-living residents. The project is expected to create about 74 full-time jobs once completed late 2013.
   
• Belmont Village at West University expects to break ground on the 158-unit Belmont Village Hunters Creek, at 7600 Woodway Ave., in spring 2013.

  The assisted-living and memory care facility will be housed in a six-story midrise spanning 113,000 sf. The project is expected to create 100 construction jobs and between 75 to 100 full-time jobs once completed.
   

• The LaSalle Group is building an Autumn Leaves memory care services community in West Houston, as reported September 2012. It expects to open a branch in Cypress-Fairbanks this month, as reported October 2012.

  Four Autumn Leaves communities have opened in Houston over the last 12 months. In total, the Autumn Leaves communities in Houston employ 315 people.

PinPoint Commercial LP and Thrive Senior Living LLC are building a 104-bed assisted-living facility scheduled to go up near Katy Mills Mall, as reported September 2012.

Houston’s 65 and older population increased to 193,050 in 2010 from 164,064 in 2000 — a 17.7 percent increase, according to data from the U.S. Census. An estimated 512,000 seniors aged 60 and above live in Harris County.