Coming Home to Community
Omni’s residences in Mentor offer seniors a full range of lifestyle options By Christopher Johnston | Photos by Doug Bardwell & Mark Watt
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“We’ve been working on this property for at least three or four years,” says Jeremy Wilson, director of construction, VITALIA, Omni Lifestyle Living. “Mentor has been in the conversation since I started with the company four years ago. This piece of property right on I-90 is advantageous for us, and the demographics fit very well for our clientele.” Omni also built and operates similar senior residential communities in North Royalton and Strongsville, and another new East Side campus in Highland Heights will open later this year. Designed by GPD Group and built by Snavely Group, VITALIA Mentor serves as the main grouping of five connected buildings that provide a full range of senior living residences. Each building contains three floors of 89 independent
living (IL) and two floors of 45 assisted living (AL) options, including one- and two-bedroom apartment or studio units, while the 16 memory care (MC) units on the first floor below the AL section are all studios. Total construction cost of VITALIA Mentor was $24 million. Nearby, on the southwest corner of the total 26.9-acre Mentor campus, the V Living Experience property currently features a community clubhouse and 24 villas that are open, with another 39 villas planned for later construction phases. The villas are all ranch-style cluster homes with one-and-a-half to two-car garages and several floor plan options. The two- to three-bedroom, two-bath residences are a little larger, so they offer more of a home-style experience, rather than an apartment setting. Construction
cost for the villas – designed by a local architecture and planning firm, C3 Studios LLC – was $5 million. Harlan + Associates, of Beachwood, acted as owner’s representative for both projects, overseeing the construction of the villas and main campus. “We built our Mentor campus and designed portions of the main buildings so that we could offer additional services to the villas,” Wilson says. “So the residents of the villas will have full access to everything that we have on our campus.” One of the benefits of Omni’s development, Wilson explains, is that they offer senior residents all-inclusive, progressive living choices and an opportunity to age in place. “When residents move in, if or when they need any increased level of care, they www.propertiesmag.com 13
Photo by Doug Bardwell
hen Omni Lifestyle Living opened its VITALIA Mentor and V Living Experience campus last month, it became its ninth property in Northeast Ohio and first in Lake County. Known for their spacious, comfortable and upscale senior residences, Omni’s properties in the region are located as far west as North Olmsted and extend south to Montrose and now east to Mentor. The campus is Omni’s first college-based community, since it is located next door to Lakeland Community College.