Senior living project still looks for funding

Proponents of a future 50- to 80-bed senior living facility in Grand Coulee learned last week that their request for $5 million in federal funds for construction costs will not make it into the 2025 Congressional budget.

But local partners continue to finesse the $17 million project, with an eye toward the state's legislative session opening next January and to future requests to the federal government for additional funds.

"We know the funding strategy is a multi-year, multi-source strategy," Ian Turner of Centerline Development wrote in a text message to The Star. Centerline Development owns the building and property that once housed Center School on Spokane Way, across from the Grand Coulee Center Lodge.

"[The consultant] will be gearing up for the state budget request, and we look forward to reapplying to the federal government next year as we build on the positive response that was received during this recent funding cycle," Turner wrote.

That consultant is Patti Westby, senior partner with Westby Associates, which works with nonprofit organizations in rural communities to develop projects and secure funding.

Westby gave an upbeat project status update to the Regional Board of Mayors meeting June 5 on behalf of Center Senior Living, a local 501(c)3 nonprofit organization created to solicit public and private funding for the project. Her presentation happened before the federal funding decision had come out. 

Westby has spent the last year and a half on a project feasibility study, which analyzes everything from local opinions about the proposal, market realities like supply and demand for senior housing, and possible funding sources.

While some private philanthropy may come forward, she stressed that this project will only happen with significant funding from both the state and federal government.

"The project funding model is public funding, and that's the big lift," Westby told the mayors. "If we don't get public funding, there's no project."

Hopefully, she said, the project will garner $5 million in federal funding, $5 million in state funding, up to $1 million from private philanthropy such as the Lauzier Foundation. The rest would be financed through loans.

Proponents envision a facility with independent living units, assisted living, and memory care. Some of the rooms would be for individuals, with some shared by two roommates.

Westby said the hope is to offer 75% of the beds to private-pay clients and 25% to Medicaid clients, though the actual figures may change based on the interest rate they are able to secure for the loan. Higher interest rates require higher rental revenue in order to make the project profitable to developers and partners.

The building has "great bones" - a plus, she said, when seeking federal funds: "The feds prefer it when people have identified land, and not having to do a brand-new build. So repurposing a building is a great option."

The project will not seek financial support from any of the local cities or the county, though she did request that the mayors and councils send letters of support for the project to legislators. 

"It really is dependent on public funding," Westby said. "Obviously, your little communities are not going to be able to raise $17 million with private philanthropy, so we're going to do our best."

Westby cited a Sage Age Strategies 2022 study of the Grand Coulee area, which the study claims only meets about 4% of the need for senior housing and services.

"The goal is for your families to be able to stay together," Westby told the mayors. "I've talked to a number of folks - from people that are living on the water to folks that are living on Medicare - and there's just no place for them to go, and they don't want to leave a town that they love and families that are together."

In addition to Centerline Development and the nonprofit organization Center Senior Living, other project partners include Senior Services of America, which manages senior residential communities in the Northwest, and Careage Construction, which designs and builds new facilities and rebuilds. Both outside partners are based in Gig Harbor, Wash.

"We will continue to keep the community up to speed on the project," said Turner, of Centerline.