September 10, 2015

Zenith, Seniority plan assisted-living project near Covington's Town Center

Preliminary rendering by Innova Architects [enlarge]

There will be 64 assisted-living units and 34 memory care units, as well as a dining room, recreation center and green space.

Zenith Capital and Seniority are teaming up to build what they said will be the first assisted-living and memory care community for seniors in Covington.

Construction is slated to start in mid-2016 on the 98-unit facility at 17006 S.E. Wax Road.

The three-acre site is now a nursery in the Town Center, and less than a mile from two major medical facilities: Valley Medical Center clinic and MultiCare clinic. Anthony Hemstad, managing director of Seattle-based Zenith, said the MultiCare clinic is slated to be converted into a hospital.

Innova Architects is designing the Zenith/Seniority project, which Hemstad said may be one or two buildings.

The team also includes Exxel Pacific, contractor; Robinson Noble, geotechnical engineer; and Kane Environmental, environmental engineer.

Covington is in King County, about 25 miles southeast of Seattle. There is independent senior housing in the city, and Hemstad said it should be “complementary” to the Zenith/Seniority project because seniors sometimes move from that type of housing to assisted living.

Hemstad said the project will cost $23.5 million and take about a year to build. There will be 64 assisted-living units with kitchenettes and 34 memory care units, as well as a dining room, recreation center and green space.

He said activities for local seniors, not just the people who live there, will be held at the facility.

The operator will be Seniority, a subsidiary of ABHOW, which is affiliated with an organization called be.group. ABHOW and be.group are the fifth-largest not-for-profit operator of senior housing in the U.S., with 84 communities and about 10,000 residents in California, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Oklahoma and Idaho.

Zenith provides alternative financing for senior housing, and sometimes invests in and develops projects.

Hemstad said Zenith, Seniority and equity investors, including people in the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program, will own the Covington property.

Covington is on Highway 18 between Auburn and North Bend. It has about 18,000 residents, many of whom commute to the Eastside, Kent Valley, Seattle and Tacoma.

The city's median household income is about $90,000, based on the 2010 Census. That is almost $20,000 higher than the King County median.

Hemstad said it's a great area for market-rate assisted living. Covington and nearby Maple Valley have relatively young residents, but when health issues happen to seniors their children generally want them to live nearby, he said.

In Seattle, people pay about $4,000 a month for assisted-living and $5,000 a month for memory care, Hemstad said, but prices at the Covington facility will likely be a little lower.

Zenith has ties to the Covington area. David Bovee, the firm's managing partner, lived in Covington and developed Covington Place Senior Apartments, an independent living community. Hemstad was city manager for Maple Valley for five years.

Zenith plans to start construction late next year on an assisted-living and memory care community in Seattle's Bitter Lake neighborhood. The company is looking for property in Western Washington, particularly the South Sound region.