The love affair between Huntley and the retirement, senior living, and hospital industries seems to have no end. With Sun City now approaching 18 years old, Heritage Woods expanding, Alden Realty starting work on a multifunctional senior living community, and Centegra Healthcare opening a 128-bed full-service hospital in the community, comes another resort-style senior living development.
Architectural Rendering of the of the Resort Lifestyle Communities’ community. (Photo provided)
Nebraska-based Resort Lifestyle Communities (RLC) unveiled a plan last week for a $30 million, 130-unit independent senior living community on 9.6 acres along Powers Road east of Route 47. If approved by Huntley’s village board, the three-story structure would rise behind the new Culver’s Restaurant. This site was once envisioned as a location for a Home Depot store until the 2008 economic downturn.
The Huntley Plan Commission gave a favorable reaction to RLC’s conceptual site plan at a village hall meeting on September 12. The only reservation expressed was whether the developer could properly fit its sprawling, two-wing structure on 9.6 acres, along with parking facilities. Bob Lewis, director of RLC development, responded by saying similar sites have worked successfully in many places.
RLC owns and operates 12 of these all-inclusive, resort-style developments, and plans 26 more nationwide. This one would be its first in Illinois.
There are no healthcare or subsidized housing facilities or services in RLC’s developments, but a lot of everything else. Amenities include 24/7 concierge service, housekeepers, gourmet chefs, valet parking attendants and lifestyle directors, along with studio, one, two, and three-bedroom apartments. Monthly rents, Lewis said, would range from $3,000 to $4,000 per month, depending on a unit’s size. There would be an additional $100 monthly fee for parking garages. Village and RLC sources reportedly said the existence of Sun City and other related facilities attracted RLC to Huntley.
The development, Lewis said, is aimed at people aged 75 or older who don’t want to own and maintain a home anymore, who may have lost a spouse, and/or seniors who no longer can drive. Lewis said that if he gets a green light from the village this fall, he would start construction next spring, and complete the development in 14 months, or in the late fall of 2018. Alden expects to opens its independent living villas next summer and its healthcare facilities a few weeks later. Heritage Woods assisted living center next to the Regency Parkway fire station is now in the final phases of its 30-bed memory care addition.
