Ground broken for Minooka assisted care facility

MINOOKA — More than 60 people from Minooka and surrounding communities gathered Monday for an official groundbreaking ceremony for the new 120-unit assisted living community slated to welcome its first residents in the spring of 2017.

Heritage Woods of Minooka assisted living community, will set at 701 Heritage Woods Drive, near the corner of Route 6 and Ridge Road, just behind the Jewel-Osco. This 18-million dollar building will be 83,000 square foot with 102 single and double occupancy units, employ 50-55 full and part-time employees, and offer amenities such as a dining service, beauty parlor, exercise room and activities for its residents.

This project has been in the works since 2005 when Steve Horve of Decatur and Bill Aeschliman of Wilmington bought the property. Later, two other developers Chris Ward of Shorewood and Jim Missig of Channahon joined the team.

“This was a passion project for all of us. We’ve seen our own parent’s age and have a need for a facility like this, and we had to travel to elsewhere for those amenities,” Ward said. “We want to bring these amenities to this area because Minooka is a growing community.”

Village of Minooka President Pat Brennan said the village was happy to see this come to Minooka.

“This assisted living community will be a wonderful addition to our community. It’s well needed and will be an anchor down in that area, which will see a new subdivision in the future,” Brennan said. “Between Channahon and Minooka we have about 26, 000 residents and that will keep growing.”

Ward said that, due to the downturn in the economy, the project did not take off as soon as they would have liked, but the past five years, it has progressed to the point of construction.

The group worked with First Community Financial Bank and Lancaster Pollard for the financial part of the project and hired Worn Jerabek Architecture out of Chicago to design the building and Horve Contractors out of Decatur to construct.

“We plan to have this up on time and on budget. We want to use as much local labor and materials as we can because we know that is important to the community,” Ward said.

The facility will be managed by Gardant Management Solutions, which has been named the largest assisted living provider in the state of Illinois. Rick Banas, Gardant Vice President of Development and Positioning, said this facility was developed for those 65 years and older and works with all income levels. There will be Certified Nursing Assistants on staff 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and employ a director of nursing for assessments and individual care planning.

“We want to provide residents with love, compassion and the dignity they deserve. In addition, we provide assistance with medications that they need to maintain their independence,” Banas said. “The assisted living concept also provides the benefit of companionship for our residents.”

After an official ground breaking, Ward invited attendees to a reception hosted at Cookie's Restaurant in downtown Minooka.