Lush gardens, intimate villas, passive cooling design, walking paths, fountains, multiple restaurants – these aren’t features of an upscale resort, but of a senior living community in Arizona.
Those features are part of a newly added independent living neighborhood dubbed “Inspirata Pointe” at Royal Oaks, a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in Sun City, Arizona. With the project, community leaders and architects sought to add a new 156-unit independent living neighborhood, multiple new dining venues and common spaces, amenities and an underground parking garage.
The project, designed by architectural firm Perkins Eastman, hinged on acquiring another senior living community on an adjacent parcel of land and took years of planning. It also represented the community’s largest addition to date in terms of scale – “a huge endeavor” compared with the organization’s previous renovations, according to COO Gretchen Cobb.
“We had done smaller projects, maybe $20 million or less, over the 40 years of our existence,” she told Senior Housing News. “But nothing of this size.”
But the end result was worth it, she said. Today, the community’s expansion is 90% full, with an expectation of full occupancy within the community’s next fiscal year. And more importantly, residents living in the building love their new dwellings and resort-style amenities, she added.
“We couldn’t be more pleased with how things have progressed,” Cobb said.
The concept
Cobb recalled it was 2017 when the community first began exploring a new addition. From the onset, Royal Oaks’ leadership sought to “build big” and add an additional revenue source to aid the community’s financial sustainability, she said. The grand idea was “creating a true desert oasis.”
The project was the first phase in a more extensive master plan, and would help inform how the 41-year-old community would update the rest of its buildings on campus. Early on, the project team wanted a design that was both unique and fitting into the surrounding Arizona environment and landscape.
“We took a bold step and decided to build a very modern-looking building that is attractive to new residents,” Cobb said.
Inspirata Pointe’s early design plan included modern architectural features such as grand roof overhangs and large windows. Outside, the designers imagined promenades and pathways, covered breezeways and pocket gardens, with passive cooling elements including courtyards with shaded pavilions, walking paths, and water features. The community’s buildings also were planned such that residents could enjoy surrounding mountain vistas.
Inside the community, plans called for a new centrally located club center with a classroom, concierge service center, and three different restaurants ranging from casual to more sophisticated dining options. Along the way, the design team was careful not to replicate amenities already on campus elsewhere.
Planned units included customizable residences with contemporary open floor plans, ranging from 1,400 to 1,850 square feet, alongside 16 two-story villas with garages and mountain views.
The design took inspiration from the surrounding Arizona landscape and included materials such as locally sourced stucco, limestone, wood accents, and bronze. Designers sought to create a community that residents would want to explore, recalled Peter Wood, a senior associate with Perkins Eastman who worked on the project.
“It was really always set against the idea that this is a master plan, this is one of three phases, so we better get it right this time around,” he said.
There were some challenges to making that vision a reality, however. For one, designers “had to be creative” with materials and plans to offset costs, given the large-scale nature of the project, Wood noted.
Chief among the challenges was the fact that Royal Oaks was a landlocked community at the time with no open space on which to build. So, the CCRC acquired an eight-acre adjacent parcel of land housing another senior living community and actually began operating it while the planning process continued.
“We ran it for a few years until we needed … because there was no reason for it to sit vacant,” Cobb said.
Eventually, the CCRC relocated the community’s residents and closed the community, clearing the way to begin building on the parcel of land.
The construction
Construction firm Sundt Construction broke ground on the project in the fall of 2020. Included in the company’s previous land acquisition was some additional acreage that housed a former heating and air conditioning business, which became the construction company’s de facto offices during construction.
“They didn’t have to bring in trailers, which was really helpful,” Cobb said.
Along the way, Sundt helped ease the impact of construction on existing residents. For example, the company made sure to face lights away from resident windows at night, and use unobtrusive techniques – such as lighting the way for trucks with glow sticks – to minimize disruptions.
Although construction was disrupted somewhat by the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, the price of lumber at the time posed an even greater challenge. Initially, the project team had opted for an all-wood building to avoid the costs of steel. But with the cost of lumber sky-high, the project materials ended up about the same cost.
“We were buying a train car at a time as it would become available and as we would agree to the price,” Cobb recalled. “I never thought that in a million years, I would ever be looking at lumber futures.”
All told, construction was about $100 million of the community’s $150 million total cost and wrapped up on time.
The completion
Today, Inspirata Pointe is a crown jewel for Royal Oaks. It was undertaken in conjunction with a 9,100 square foot building that has amenity and therapy space for residents, and complements it nicely, according to Cobb.
Senior Housing News judge and BKV Group Senior Housing Practice Leader Senior Grant Warner noted the community’s “remarkable” indoor-outdoor connections.
“I want to go explore all the outdoor areas and amenities myself,” he wrote. “The restrained exterior design is very sophisticated. The interior design is stunning.”
Among the biggest signs the project was successful is in how residents use it today, Cobb said. It’s not uncommon to walk through the community and see residents hosting a potluck with lots of food and drinks. The neighborhood’s residents also dressed up in shared Halloween costumes last year.
“it’s these collaborative group connections that they’re making that are intentional – and it’s working,” she added.
Royal Oaks is taking the momentum it gained from its Inspirata Pointe expansion project and applying it elsewhere. The community is exploring adding a new care center for high-acuity residents, and potentially some more independent living additions beyond that.
“It would be great to work with Perkins Eastman when we get to that point,” Cobb said.
