Environments for Aging - Winter 2021 - 21

The church had fallen
into disrepair and wasn't
contributing to the
neighborhood. Now, it's
injected vitality. "
- Jim Tarantino, Capri Communities
connections were already built in, thanks to a nearby
park and school, says Eric Harrmann, chief design
officer at AG Architecture (Wauwatosa, Wis.), the
architecture firm on the project.
So in 2018, with the idea to rebuild the church
and connect it to a new senior living project,
which Capri felt would create a stronger sense of
community for the residents (many of whom are
longstanding parish members) and the rest of the
parish, Capri bought the property. The sale included
the old church, school, and convent for a price
of $1-with the agreement that Capri would sell the
new church back to the archdiocese for the same
amount. In other words, the parish exchanged the
land for a newly rebuilt church, and Capri was able
to build the new senior community on it complete
with that special amenity, creating a win-win.
Making room
Opened in August 2020, the 182,000-square-foot
St. Rita Square comprises two six-story towers with
a total of 118 residential units-a vertical solution to
the tight one-acre lot. It was also Capri Communities'
first multistory building in the city. One tower
houses independent living while the other includes
Left: A casual dining
destination for residents and
church-goers, the trattoria
serves as a social hub of the
community and includes a
stone-hearth oven and bar
area.
Above: A variety of gathering
spaces is available throughout
the multistory community
to provide options for large or
small groups.
four stories of one- and two-bedroom assisted living
units and studio memory care units along with
an additional independent living unit on the sixth
floor; this tower also connects to the new church.
Additionally, amenity spaces include a club room
on the top floor of the independent living tower and
a second-floor rooftop terrace on the other.
The community is fronted by a covered entry
that leads into a spacious ground-floor commons
area in the independent/assisted living/memory
care building with a large split-level dining
space, which includes a lower-level trattoria and a
multipurpose room.
An outdoor piazza (considered the heart of communities
in Italy) between the two towers offers an
exterior courtyard space that's elevated above street
level, giving residents a direct connection to the urban
fabric of the neighborhood as well as a sense of
privacy and security. It also helps to break up the
mass of the building volumes, as do setbacks and
material changes on the building's façade, to give
the multistory structure a more hospitable presence
in the residential neighborhood, Harrmann says.
" The creation of the piazza tied back into the Italian
heritage of the community and gave us the ability to
winter 2021 | 21
TRICIA SHAY PHOTOGRAPHY (TRATTORIA & BALCONY); DIRECT SUPPLY APTURA (CLUBROOM)
Environments for Aging - Winter 2021

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