Best CCRC Lite: The Springs at the Waterfront Puts Nature Front and Center in Its Urban Setting

The Springs Living faced a significant challenge in developing its latest property, The Springs at the Waterfront: It had to bring its standard design principles, used for larger parcels of land, to its first high-density urban market.

The McMinnville, Oregon-based operator also grappled with how to bring nature to an urban setting while building its tallest building to date.

Prior to the Vancouver, Washington, location’s development, the tallest building The Springs Living had in its portfolio was no more than five stories tall. In order to get everything it needed to the more urban location’s four acre site, it had to be 12 stories, according to Chris Selby, vice president of design. On the top of the community is a rooftop terrace, offering wine service, putting greens, raised garden beds, grilling stations and fire pits, all while surrounded by views of the Columbia River, Mount Hood and surrounding urban parks.

The building’s concept evokes a luxury home, with common areas strategically designed along the southern edge to allow all residents a view of the nearby river. The building itself features dark bronze, masonry and wood tones to create a warm, inviting sensation for residents, their families and guests.

What stands out in particular for the community compared to its counterparts is that it intentionally keeps its assisted living and memory care floors in the middle of the tower to give them seamless integration into the community and equal access to views, natural light and community access.

“It allows a resident to change their needs … if they transition to assisted living or memory care, they’re still going to be on that upper floor and have those wonderful views,” Selby said. “It has been an incredible thing to see our memory care residents enjoy that connection to the overall community from their protective environment and those views out of the memory care on the eighth floor.”

The process of bringing The Springs at the Waterfront to life started in 2019 by conducting market research with residents, meeting with focus groups and starting to develop the project team before putting the project on pause at the end of the year due to early reports of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For these reasons, The Springs at the Waterfront received the first place award in the 2025 Senior Housing News Architecture & Design Awards category for “Best CCRC Lite.”

The concept

While planning was put on pause during the pandemic, it resumed towards the end of 2020. GBD Architects Incorporated was brought on as the architect, marking the company’s first foray into senior living design, according to Principal Chelsey Boreas.

While The Springs Living was more used to developing on larger parcels, the company learned many lessons throughout the development of The Springs at the Waterfront. One of the key challenges that had to be overcome, according to Selby, was identifying the relationships among program elements that needed to stay together and organizing them within the building so residents would be engaged and energized in a “casual manner.”

The landscape was incorporated into this stage of planning, with the Columbia River used as a point of interest and an orientation point for all of the program elements. That way, Selby said, no matter where residents or staff were within the building, they could reorient themselves and find where they were going.

When designing the building, GBD focused on equity as an important thematic element, with not only every floor having equal access to natural light and views but public spaces within the community were built to be natural extensions of residents’ homes while featuring neutral palettes and natural textures, allowing furnishings in muted greens and blues and earthly browns to add both warmth and a strong connection to nature.

“We made sure those materials were consistent throughout the building, no matter what level of care you’re on,” Boreas said. “It doesn’t feel like anyone has a different or lower package of finish or a lower quality of design.”

Despite the hold for the project due to the pandemic, Selby said that the extra planning time turned out to be a boon for continued improvements in the community’s design and helped it remain within its $155 million budget.

The construction

Construction on the community began on April 11, 2022, at a time when there was six inches of snow on the ground, Selby said. The project was completed in October 2024, with substantial completion on time.

Selby credits the construction timeline remaining intact throughout due to the efforts of contractor Howard S. Wright.

The primary challenge the teams had to overcome was building the community’s underground parking lot, which was located right next to the river. Construction teams had to follow groundwater down as it receded and fill it with concrete as the water rose, resulting in very tight windows in which to work. The site was also home to several generations of industrial backfill on the site, and while construction was ongoing, crews discovered a tremendous amount of concrete, old footings, old timbers, old piers and near the bottom of the site, the foundation of an old Dubois brothers sawmill from the turn of the century.

The discovery resulted in a several-week delay while it was determined whether it was archaeologically significant, though it had minimal impact on the project’s overall timeline.

The completion

The Springs at the Waterfront was deemed completed on Oct. 15, 2024, both on time and on budget. The finished project was “everything that we were designing it to be and much more,” Selby said.

“We did a lot of market research and received a lot of resident input during the planning of this, and engaged all the stakeholders as much as we could. That really made it a success in our minds,” Selby said.

Occupancy for the building is at 65%, which Selby said is on track for what The Springs Living planned for. To the company’s surprise, assisted living and memory care have been filled at a faster rate than anticipated, which Selby attributes to the units’ locations in the middle of the building.

However, the biggest measure of success to Selby has been the reception by residents and staff, particularly in regards to their wellbeing and retention. GBD also points to the building’s LEED Gold certification for sustainability and efficient design and a Fitwel certification that shows the community ensures residents have a good and healthy experience while living there.

Judges were impressed with the community’s integration efforts, design aesthetics and its interactions with nature throughout.

“The architecture has integrity, with references to nature in an urban character. Interaction with the outdoors is seen in every aspect, through the colors, materials and theme of the building. Amenity spaces are delightful; sophisticated and timeless,” judge Liz Petersen wrote.

“[The] building has a nice presence on the site,” wrote judge Greg Gauthreaux, “Materiality and massing is sophisticated and addresses scale successfully, community engagement is clear and well integrated [and] amenity spaces are destinations and unique.”

Following the success of the community, Selby stated it opens The Springs Living up to future urban development, which it is seeking.

Boreas said that because of the experience of working on the project, GBD Architects Incorporated plans to continue building out its senior housing portfolio, and wants to work with operators who may be interested in a fresh perspective.

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