The healthcare expansion movement began in Huntley with Sun City in 1999. It was followed by Heritage Woods assisted living that later expanded into memory care.
It developed speed with the Deerpath of Huntley rehab place in Regency Square, and then Kinetic Physical Therapy near Village Green joined the parade. Then came the Huntley Springs hotel-like project for seniors that opened last month on Powers Road behind Culver’s. It hit a crescendo of development with Centegra Huntley Hospital, now called Northwestern Medicine, last year. Not to be outdone, the Alden independent and assisted living/memory care complex on Regency Parkway, also opened in 2017-18.
This past summer, it has become a roar of progress with the revelation that the Shepherd Premier Senior Living organization has proposed a 12-acre. 144-unit, two-phase project near the intersection of Farm Hill Drive and Regency Parkway. It will combine memory care and assisted living services and facilities in the first phase.
It already has an encouraging, if unofficial, nod from the village board’s conceptual review in June, and the village’s plan commission gave it a unanimous go-ahead in mid-October. It only needs final, formal approval of detailed plans from the village board, which is expected early in 2020.
If approved, Shepherd will be the ninth senior living or health care project built in Huntley in 25 years.
The Huntley Fire Protection District has gotten into the act with its new fifth fire station currently underway on Dhamer Drive at the south edge of Sun City, to serve Sun City, and a new headquarters administrative/fire station facility on Main Street just west of Ruth Road.
In phase one, Shepherd proposes to build nine single-story residence buildings and an administrative building to serve as the sales center for the facility. Phase one will be located along the eastern side of Farm Hill Drive on about 7.2 acres. The second phase will be on the west side of Farm Hill, next to the medical office building, on 4-plus acres.
In a separate statement on the Huntley website. Shepherd lays out its philosophy of senior living.
“At Shepherd Premier Senior living, we have taken all the components of the highest standard of assisted living care, removed t he obstacles to healthcare that are present in a larger building, and created a boutique, luxury home with all of the services and amenities of a larger apartment style building,” the statement says.
“Our Shepherd Premier Senior Living home is on a large residential property that is not ‘home like,’ it is a ‘home.’ Specifically, while the industry care ratio is one caregiver for every 20 residents, Shepherd’s care ratio is one caregiver for every five residents.”
“Our caregivers are always just steps away from our residents,” Shepherd continues “Our RN clinician is available daily, providing clinical care and interacting with Shepherd families. Shepherd quickly becomes part of the extended family of each resident.”
“In states with large senior populations such as Florida, Arizona, and California, home based assisted living is common and widely available. While Illinois has the 7th largest population of seniors, there are only approximately 53 home based assisted living options available in the entire state,” the statement continues. Shepherd introduced this home based living option to McHenry County in Ringwood in 2014, and built another in Harvard in January of 2019. We will be opening residential assisted living homes in Crystal Lake and Bull Valley, Illinois in the last quarter of 2019,” the statement continues.
The village website also mentions a 40-foot landscape buffer that will be provided near Sun City’s Neighborhood 3 homes, as required by the village’s Development Guidelines for the Regency Square area. In the guidelines there are regulations for site planning, building design, landscaping, and signage. The subject sites are zoned “BP” Business Park, which requires a special use permit for congregate care.
