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Posted Aug 2, 2008, 4:51 PM
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Join Date: May 2007
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[Orleans] Petrie's Landing Retirement Residence 1 & 2 | 12 fl | Proposed
More tall ones for Orleans...
Unfortunately the rendering only appeared in the print edition of the paper...
Appears to be about 12 stories maybe 13.
Quote:
A la carte living
Brigil serves up style, choice of services in first seniors residence in Orléans
Linda Mondoux, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Saturday, August 02, 2008
Brigil Homes will import to its first retirement residence in Orléans the "à la carte" trend that is popular in Quebec.
The Gatineau-based developer plans to set itself apart by giving residents the ultimate in choice: Residents will not have to pay for a single service they don't want. And that includes meals.
"The seniors in our focus groups have told us that they want choice," says Nicole Gauthier, general manager for Brigil's Petrie's Landing Retirement Residence. "They do not want to have meals in their rent. They want to be independent."
While other hotel-style retirement residences also stress "choice" and "independent living" in their efforts to sell their brand of living to ever younger seniors, Gauthier believes Brigil's project will be the first in Ottawa where residents will not have one single meal included in their accommodation package.
The retirement project, to be built beside Brigil's Petrie's Landing condo tower development, Phase 1, which is now under construction, will have a dining room. But its look, menu and operation will be more like a hotel restaurant, Gauthier says. If residents don't feel like cooking in their own kitchens one night, they can reserve a table and eat in the restaurant.
Gauthier says the "à la carte" program is the result of listening to what seniors told Brigil they would like to see in a retirement residence -- or "resort," as they prefer to call it. Retirement home operator Chartwell has popularized this way of doing business in Quebec.
"You can live independently, but know that you have around-the-clock security, and if you're sick, you have the alarm system," says Gauthier, who worked in the retirement business for six years before joining Brigil. "With à la carte, people take services as they grow older."
In Orléans, Brigil plans to build 300 rental retirement suites in two buildings. Construction on Phase 1 -- 160 units -- is expected to start in spring 2009.
"We want to do this right," says Gauthier, who added that more focus groups are planned when Brigil's design for the first retirement building is complete. "It's a work-in-progress."
Rents, which have yet to be set, will include accommodation -- a choice of studio, one- or two-bedroom, or two-bedroom plus den -- heat, hydro, cable and weekly housekeeping.
Gauthier says seniors in the focus groups also placed a view, outdoor space with gardens and close proximity to shopping as must-haves in a retirement residence.
Brigil's project will include amenities such as an indoor pool, covered penthouse common area with fireplaces and views of the Ottawa River and the Gatineau Hills, exercise studio, cinema, café, pharmacy, hair salon and banking facilities. Outside space will include a sixth-floor terrace, a ground-level garden area and a place for recreational pursuits such as shuffleboard. There will also be an activity director with a residents' committee leading the way, and a shuttle bus for outings.
"It will be like a resort," says Gauthier, adding Brigil expects to attract seniors in their mid-60s to early 70s. The average age of those participating in the focus groups was 69, rather than 83, which is the average age of residents in retirement residences today.
She says seniors also made it clear "they want young people around." They will have the chance to interact with younger folk from the condos next door.
Owners there will have access to optional VIP club membership cards that will allow them to use the pool, restaurant and other amenities at the retirement residence.
For more information, call Nicole Gauthier at 819-778-7694, ext. 301. Visit Brigil's website at www.brigil.com for more information on its Petrie's Landing Resort condo development, which will include four towers, the first of which is 75 per cent sold.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2008
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