Multi-Housing News - October 2008 - (Page 16)

Designed using lessons learned from the hospitality industry, Mirabella is a 220-unit continuing care retirement community aiming for a LEED Platinum rating. Located in Portland, Ore.’s South Waterfront neighborhood, this 507,000-sq.-ft. development earned first place in the Unbuilt category of MHN’s second-annual Design Excellence Awards Program. Barneburg Hill in Medford. The original building, completed in 1961, consisted of 280 independent living units and a health care center with 40 beds. In the early 1980s, the board of directors, together with the management team, began planning for expansion. As the organization’s growth continued, the need for a parent company became clear and in 1991, PRS was formed. (For more details, visit www.retirement.org.) “PRS is currently a parent to 55 other nonprofit organizations, and each community is a standalone from a financial perspective,” says PRS Executive Vice President Brian McLemore. “It’s a message we share with our residents—and a strong advantage for them. We have no stockholders looking for dividends and any extra money stays with each community to further enhance the facility.” The company is just a few months away from opening its first Mirabella CCRC in Seattle. PRS wasn’t able to obtain LEED certification for this building during the financing stage, but is going back to get it certified before occupancy in December. Portland’s Mirabella will open in the summer of 2010, with groundbreaking on a third facility in the San Francisco Bay area late next year. The company doesn’t play favorites, but its Portland project is special, and not just because of its home-based location. The 30-story CCRC is PRS’s first true high-rise (Seattle’s Mirabella qualifies more as a 15-story mid-rise) and is next door to the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) Wellness Center. This facility is connected by aerial tram to the main university campus on a hill west of the site. OHSU will also contribute the latest in technological resources and applications for Mirabella’s aging yet vibrant population, allowing residents to remain independent as long as possible while providing healthcare support when needed. While PRS’s founders would attribute Mirabella’s success to divine intervention (the facility was 90 percent sold out at the construction stage), the company had some outside help. First off, Portland’s supercharged economy is handily outperforming its West Coast peers. According to the latest U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis figures, Portland generated $22.7 billion from the manufacturing segment alone in 2005—up almost 90 percent from 2001. To put the gains in perspective, manufacturing accounts for 18.9 percent of Detroit’s economy. It’s this kind of phenomenal GDP performance that helps generate cash for the well-todo Baby Boomers that PRS targets as future clients. 16 October 2008 | Multi-Housing News | Producer of Multi-Housing World http://www.retirement.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Multi-Housing News - October 2008

Multi-Housing News - October 2008
Contents
From the Editor
MHN TV Premieres
Market Pulse
Special Report: MHN 2008 Design Awards
Development & Design: Mirabella
Market Report: Chicago, Kansas City
Property Management: Tracking Residents’ Tech Wish Lists
Finance: Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae
Tech Report: Marketing Web sites
Products: Appliances

Multi-Housing News - October 2008