Walls go up for new assisted-living project

Construction of a 39-unit assisted living facility in Columbia Falls is moving along at a fast pace. Glenn Schenavar, the general contractor and an investor in the Timber Creek Village project, had most of the prefabricated wall panels for one wing in place within a few days of the concrete slab being poured.

The single-story, multi-winged building is going up on a large piece of vacant land across U.S. 2 from Super 1 Foods. Access to the facility's parking lot will be from Meadow Lake Boulevard. The site has been annexed into the city. Schenavar said he and other investors bought the land from Harry Cheff about 2 1/2 years ago but held off construction for a few years because of the recession.

"We expect to be open by the end of January," he said last week.

Phase 1 calls for a 38,000-square-foot building with 39 single- and double-bedroom units, a theater room, a beauty parlor and barber shop, an exercise room, a coffee bar, a club room and a private dining room. Residents will be offered three meals a day. Each unit will have a small kitchenette with a microwave and refrigerator, and French-style doors opening onto a private patio area.

"It's all built on one level," Schenavar said. "There's not a single step, from the parking lot to the rooms."

Schenavar and his wife, Evelyn, are from Thompson Falls. He said he built a similar assisted-living facility in Effington, Ill., last year and plans to start another in Helena next year.

"We plan to build five in Montana," he said, noting the growth in demand by aging baby boomers. "We studied the demographics across the Flathead."

Schenavar said he went out of his way to hire local subcontractors - all except one are from Montana or the Flathead. The trusses and wall panels were manufactured by Western Building Center in Columbia Falls. Once completed, the facility will employ 25 workers, including management, housekeepers, resident assistants, certified nurse assistants and a registered nurse.

Riverstone Management Corp., with more than 30 years experience in the health care industry, will oversee the facility. The 24-hour certified staffing will provide an environment of independence while assisting in dressing, bathing, personal hygiene, medication and transportation to plays, doctors, shopping or community service events.

"The dining hall will function as a senior center," Schenavar said. "The public will be invited in for bingo and other activities."

Depending on how quickly the Timber Creek Village facility fills up, Schenavar said plans call for two expansions - a wing with eight more units to the southwest or a wing with 14 units to the east, which will enclose the courtyard area on the north side of the building. When completely built out, the facility will have 61 units and 70,300 square feet in one single-floor building.

The old steel-sided building east of the new facility, used by Cheff's logging and road-building business, will be torn down, and the Timber Creek Village facility will be buffered on the east and north by earthen berms and landscaping, he said.

For more information on Timber Creek Village, call 892-3400.