will be constructed at
lifecare community
Applewood Estates plans
to build $35M expansion
Cottages, apartments
will be constructed at
lifecare community
By linda denicola
Staff Writer
An artist’s rendering shows the type of private cottage home that will be built as part of a $35 million expansion project at the CentraState Healthcare System’s Applewood Estates community in Freehold Township.
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — Apple-wood Estates, the independent living retirement community of CentraState Healthcare System, is planning to build 20 cottages and 70 additional new living units. Officials announced today that the project, with a projected cost of $35 million, is the most ambitious expansion in recent years.
The cottages will be built on the northwest part of the Applewood Estates property on Gully Road, south of the Route 33 bypass. The garden homes will range in size from 1,300 to 1,600 square feet, each with a garage, and grouped as duplexes and triplexes.
Construction plans include 50 new apartments to be added on to the west side of the current Applewood Estates building, and an additional 20 new rooms in the healthcare unit on the east side of the facility. Other improvements include a new swimming pool, exercise facility, spa, library, formal and casual dining rooms, and an enlarged main entrance and common areas.
When Applewood Estates opened in 1990 it was, and still is, the only lifecare community affiliated with a hospital (CentraState Medical Center, West Main Street). Right now there are 240 independent living units, 30 assisted living units and 60 skilled nursing units with a total of 330 units, all under one roof in the 13-year-old complex.
Jay Solomon, vice president of CentraState Senior Services, said the project officials announced today is an expansion of consumer choices and explained the way the living facility works. Applewood Estates is a lifecare community, meaning that once a person buys his independent living unit he is also buying increasing levels of care over the rest of his life. As the person becomes less independent, he can move into the assisted living and skilled care facilities at no additional cost.
In addition to the initial purchase price of a living unit there is also a monthly fee, he said.
"We project that somebody around 78 or 79 years of age will reside in that level of care for approximately eight years, assisted living for a little bit more than a year and in skilled care for a little more than a year. The average person will reside in the community for 10 years," Solomon said.
He added that people actually purchase a lifecare contract that has a financial planning component. One contract — traditional — has a graduated return for refund.
"The traditional plan provides that a certain portion of their entrance fee gets re-funded to their estate," he said, adding, "Lifecare is a combination of health care and estate planning because we guarantee health care for life and look at what a person will be able to leave to [their] heirs."
The new one-bedroom cottage with a den is expected to sell for $262,000 and up; the largest cottage, with two bedrooms and a den, is expected to sell for $320,000. Monthly costs are expected to range between $1,000 and $1,500 and include one meal a day, housekeeping, transportation to shopping and entertainment, all utilities except telephone, clinic services and all maintenance, Solomon said.
The project represents the largest expansion of services in the CentraState system since CentraState Medical Center added a five-story bed tower in 1993. The Applewood Estates expansion surpasses a $10-million expansion of CentraState’s emergency department now under way, and a $20-million Medical Arts Building that opened on the CentraState campus last year.
The Applewood Estates complex is on 44 landscaped acres. Applewood Estates administrators informed residents of the expansion plans several months ago, Freehold Township officials earlier this year and neighbors at a community meeting last night.
A spokesman said Applewood Estates expects to pre-sell 70 percent of the 90 new units over the next six months before starting construction.
Officials project a two-year construction period.
CentraState Healthcare System is a not-for-profit health organization. It consists of an acute-care hospital, three senior living communities, a health education and fitness center, a family medicine center and a charitable foundation. It is a member of the Robert Wood Johnson Health Network and a clinical research affiliate of The Cancer Institute of New Jersey.