Elementary school becomes assisted living community


For one new assisted living community set to be built in the American Midwest, the facility will represent the full life cycle, as it was formerly an elementary school.

Somerset Elementary School in Prairie Village, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, has been sold to Hunt Midwest, and construction will soon begin to convert the property into a community for the aging, according to a recent article in the Johnson County Sun.

The new community will house 59 individual units, with most of them being standard assisted living, and a few catering to those with dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease.

Brenner Holland, director of real estate operations for Hunt Midwest, told the news source that assisted living communities like theirs are often welcome in new neighborhoods.

"These assisted living facilities are nice in neighborhoods because they are low-traffic, low-parking, low-noise so they really blend well in neighborhoods," he said, adding that he expects the new facility to open in about a year.

Residents of assisted living communities typically does not require the constant care of a nursing care facility, but still needs assistance with some aspects of daily life and function. Recent estimates suggest that about one million people live in assisted living communities in the United States alone.