An in-home care senior brand that hires active seniors to help less active seniors is taking off in Reston.

Veronique Coker, a stay-at-home mom for the last 11 years, plans to launch two brick-and-mortar locations of Seniors Helping Seniors in Reston and Centreville later this year.

“Their plan for success is to optimize the growth of their first locations to help seniors in the community,” Emily Gay, a spokesperson for the company, said.

The business applies Coker’s previous background in administration to business ownership. Coker found Seniors Helping Seniors through a franchise academy online that helps people get into business with franchising.

The idea of Seniors Helping Seniors stood out to Coker who loved the idea of helping people.

“She was already helping her elderly neighbors with caregiving so she had the experience herself,” Gay said.

The exact locations and opening dates for both franchises are still under wraps, but they’re expected to open within the next couple of months.

The business, which was founded in 1998, matches seniors who need mature, active women and meant to help them. It was co-founded by Kiran and Philip Yocom. Kiran worked with Mother Teresa for 14 years before moving from India to the United States.

The first in-home service opened in Pennsylvania.

The Fairfax County Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of plans for a 113-unit independent living facility in Seven Corners.

The vote, which included one abstention at the Feb. 8 meeting, sends the proposal from First Christian Church and developer Wesley Housing to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for a public hearing on Feb. 21.

Mason District Commissioner Daren Shumate said that the county worked with neighboring residents to tackle two major contentious issues involving the project: increased stormwater runoff in a problematic area and the scale of the project at 6165 Leesburg Pike.

The 7-acre parcel is currently developed with a nearly 27,500-square-foot church.

Aaron Vinson, a civil engineer with Walter L. Phillips, Inc., said the applicant worked to divert runoff away from Ravenwood Park in response to concerns from neighbors and residents about increased stormwater runoff in an area that already floods routinely.

He said the applicant’s stormwater runoff plan diverts runoff towards a “better functioning pipe system.”

Shumate also noted that the actual facade of the building facing a residential parcel is three stories.

“The intent of matching the look and feel of the neighborhood has been met,” Shumate said.

Despite giving the project its support, the commission cautioned that the county should continue to examine stormwater runoff in the area.

Franconia District Commissioner Daniel Lagana said the Virginia Department of Transportation is undertaking a study of the area in response to community concerns. At a public hearing on Feb. 1, residents described what Lagana said were serious concerns.

Shumate said the county is working with residents on the issue. Specifically, the county has given one resident sandbags to manage stormwater runoff near their home.

“The county needs to be very cognizant of these stormwater issues,” he said, adding that the sandbag step was only a temporary solution to what appears to be a bigger problem.

Braddock District Commissioner Mary Cortina said that the commission did recommend language for a Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan amendment that better managed stormwater runoff in the area — but the suggestion was not ultimately adopted by the Board of Supervisors.

“As a commission, we heard the residents,” Cortina said. “…We have to keep our eye on the ball with stormwater definitely.”

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has given the green light to new affordable housing for seniors along Richmond Highway.

At last week’s meeting, the board unanimously approved the plan amendment for the affordable senior housing next to the Beacon of Groveton apartment building. The project calls for a six-story, 70,000-square-foot affordable, independent senior living facility with a “community-serving” ground floor at 6858 Richmond Highway.

An undeveloped urban park currently sits at the site.

The county’s Planning Commission also voted unanimously to recommend approval of the project back in December, despite some traffic concerns.

While all the supervisors voted for the project, a few shared that they had initially hoped to see more office space at the site. However, with the county actively trying to convert underused commercial space due to reduced need, they admitted that affordable housing for seniors was a much better plan.

“This area, unfortunately, will not be executed in the form of office, [but] I acknowledge the market just isn’t there,” Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk said during the meeting. “It makes sense to convert this to something that’s definitely needed in the community. Affordable housing — particularly affordable housing for seniors — is something that will have benefit.”

Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck agreed with that sentiment, saying that while some green space will be lost, the space was always planned for development.

“I share the regret that we don’t have office options, but equally say that I’m very pleased we can do more…senior housing,” Storck said. “It’s definitely a demand that will far exceed supply.”

The project to develop the half-acre “interim park space” into a multi-story building housing seniors was first proposed in May.

The development will sit next to the Beacon of Groveton apartment building and about a half-block from the Beacon Center, a retail area with a Giant, Lowe’s, and other stores. It will be about a half-mile from a future Richmond Highway Bus Rapid Transit station, which could begin operating around 2030.

While walkability to amenities was a point in favor of the project, an area resident at last month’s planning commission public hearing noted the proximity to Richmond Highway may pose a safety risk to residents. As a caregiver for his elderly parents, he said the traffic was so bad along the corridor that he didn’t let his dad walk in the evenings near Richmond Highway.

Commissioners overall understood this objection but said this project and other ones in the future should make the corridor more pedestrian-friendly.

The new senior housing along Richmond Highway remains far from being completed. Rezoning consideration likely won’t happen until the spring, with the building not expecting to open to its new senior residents until at least 2027.

The Mather is now as tall as it’s ever going to get.

The apartment high-rise buildings for adults 62 and older “topped off” earlier this month, less than a year after beginning vertical construction.

Workers poured a final round of concrete onto the roofs of the two towers on Jan. 10, the nonprofit senior living developer behind the project, Mather, announced that day.

The buildings now reach 308 feet or 27 stories above ground at 7929 Westpark Drive in Tysons.

“General Contractor Whiting Turner estimates the project includes more than 50,000 cubic yards of concrete and represents almost 700,000 workforce hours to date, a number made even more significant considering the pandemic,” Mather said in the media advisory.

The Mather consists of two phases. The first phase, a 27-story high-rise, will have 179 apartment units, while the second 18-story high-rise will have 114 apartments.

The apartment homes range in size from 850 to 3,300 square feet, and entrance fees start at $646,700. Prices are dependent upon apartment size, location, service package, and health plan selected. The buildings will be connected at the third through fifth floors. Third-floor amenity spaces include a fitness center, spa, indoor pool, multiple restaurants, outdoor terraces, art studio, and more. The fourth and fifth floors will be home to a Life Centre with 16 assisted living apartment homes, 20 memory care suites, and 42 private skilled nursing suites.

The complex will also have 14,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, including a publicly accessible community center devoted to people 50 and older. The center is a “unique collaboration” with Fairfax County, according to Mather.

On track for a move-in date in 2024, The Mather is among six buildings currently under construction in Tysons, according to Fairfax County’s Tysons Tracker. One building — The Brentford apartments at The Mile — was completed in December, after the tracker was last updated.

The Monarch, a condominium building that’s part of the same Arbor Row development as The Mather, is expected to finish construction this spring. The units are 70% sold, and move-ins are scheduled to start in April and May, a public relations representative for developer Renaissance Centro said.

Other projects being built in Tysons include The Boro’s expansion and the Heming apartments in Scotts Run.

All that construction will add 3.2 million square feet of development in Tysons, including a total of 1,613 housing units, nearly 900,000 square feet of office space, and over 123,000 square feet of retail.

A project set to place affordable housing for seniors along Richmond Highway (Route 1) has cleared another hurdle.

At its final meeting of the year on Dec. 7, the Fairfax County Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of a plan amendment to allow a six-story, 70,000-square-foot affordable, independent senior living facility with a “community-serving” ground floor at 6858 Richmond Highway.

The development will be next to the Beacon of Groveton apartment building and about a half block from the Beacon Center, a retail area with a Giant, Lowe’s, and other stores. It will be also about a half-mile from a Richmond Highway Bus Rapid Transit station, which could begin operating around 2030.

The roughly half-acre site in Groveton was previously approved for “office and retail uses” in 2004, per the staff report. Right now, it sits essentially undeveloped as an “interim park space” with a sign out front noting its availability.

The proposed plan amendment won’t change the previously approved density or height of any possible development, only the allowed use.

With this go-ahead from the planning commisision, the plans to build this affordable, senior living facility along Richmond Highway will now go to the Board of Supervisors. A public hearing is set for Jan. 24, 2023, with rezoning consideration likely not until May.

The facility is not expected to be open to residents until at least 2027.

The plans didn’t get much pushback from commissioners, who noted the need for more of this type of facility in the county.

“There’s a significant shortage of independent, senior, affordable [housing] throughout the county,” said At-Large Commissioner Candice Bennett. “For folks who are trying to stay in their community and near family…preserving enough options so folks can stay in their community, I think, is going to be important. I’m excited to see this plan amendment come forward.”

Mason District Commissioner Julie Strandlie recalled how important it was to her family to live nearby when her grandma, at 102 years old, needed a facility of this nature.

“It’s really important to have many of these types of facilities for families in as many communities as possible,” Strandlie said. “Because with traffic and the time commitment, it’s really difficult to get to that facility to see your loved one as often as one would like…I hope there will be more facilities like this throughout the county.”

However, during the public hearing, one member of the community shared concerns about building another development along the already congested Richmond Highway.

An area resident for three decades, the neighbor said he’s a caregiver for his elderly parents, and the traffic is so bad, he does not feel safe letting his dad walk along Richmond Highway in the evening. Read More

A vacant 3.8-acre portion of land in Chantilly could soon be the home for a new affordable housing development for seniors.

Agape Property Management is seeking Fairfax County’s permission to build Agape House Chantilly, a 232-unit development with an adult day care facility, on the southeast side of Thunderbolt Place and west of Centerview Drive.

Mike Van Atta, a land use planner with McGuire Woods, said Agape is excited to develop a fully affordable senior living complex in the Dulles Suburban Center.

“This important project includes high quality building and site design and will serve as a benchmark for the crucial goal of providing new senior and affordable housing options in the western Fairfax County,” Atta wrote.

Approval of the plan would require rezoning the property, which is currently planned for hotel uses that have not been constructed. The applicant is also seeking a special exception to allow for an independent living facility and adult day care facility on the site.

The independent living facility will house up to 300 residents, catering to those making 60% of the area median income or below. Roughly 200 participants are planned for the adult day care facility.

The five-story building will include a pharmacy, therapy room, fitness and recreational areas, and a common kitchen and dining room. The business will also include services like transportation and meal service. Up to 42 employees will likely be present.

The plan assumes that most residents and adult day care participants will “rely on shuttle services provided by Agape House Chantilly,” the application says.

A developer is considering the addition of 24 age-restricted cottages to an existing continuing care facility in Mantua.

The Virginian (9229 Arlington Blvd), a building built in 1980 that includes independent living units and assisted living, could see an addition of duplex units for people 55 and older, if Fairfax County approves the application submitted on Oct. 14.

The request would require rezoning the nearly 36-acre property from residential to planned continuing care to accommodate a broad range of senior housing.

Jennifer Garcia — a senior land use planner with DLA Piper, the applicant’s representative — said the rezoning would allow the the applicant “greater flexibility” to use beds and units for independent living, assisted living, memory care or skilled nursing.

“A logical next step to ensure the continued viability of the Property and to best serve County residents is to improve upon the mix of age-restricted housing stock, with additional flexibility to provide a continuum of care to better residents and families,” the application states.

No changes to the structure of the main building are proposed. The private equity firm Focus Healthcare Partners purchased the property in 2019 and has since invested $56 million into the facility, according to the application.

The developer anticipates “minimal impacts” on traffic, including 73 peak-hour a.m. and 108 peak-hour p.m. trips.

Applying under the affiliate name FFI Virginian Owner LLC, Focus Healthcare plans to provide $3 per square foot of new gross floor area for the county’s affordable housing fund. It’s unclear if some portion of the units will be designated as affordable.

So far, the applicant says it “anticipates and requests further discussions with staff regarding the equivalency between the provision of affordable units and the monetary contribution.”

A much-discussed senior living community is now open in Great Falls.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held last month to open the Residence at Colvin Run at 1131 Walker Road. In attendance were a few local officials, including Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust.

The 53,000-square-foot facility is being run by IntegraCare, which also operates a senior living facility in Hunters Woods on Colt Neck Road.

The one on Walker Road is on nearly three acres of land near the Colvin Run Mill historic site. It has 62 units in a mix of assisted living apartments and memory care residents for adults 65 and older.

Amenities include a fitness center, an art studio, a theater with an audio system that pairs with hearing aids, an aviary with finches, a rustic-inspired pub, and a trail connecting to neighborhood businesses. It will also bring more than 50 jobs to the community.

The facility fills a need for senior housing in Great Falls, where more than a third of the population is over 55 years old. Residents 65 and older make up about 14% of Fairfax County’s total population.

“In our experiences, we’ve found that seniors want to continue to live in the communities that they raised their families in,” IntegraCare CEO Larry Rouvelas said at the groundbreaking in April 2021. “The need to build senior housing communities in the specific neighborhoods that people grew up in is an important part of their quality of life.”

The project was first proposed more than four years ago and got the county’s approval in early 2019.

Foust has been a supporter of the project since the beginning. He told Reston Now last year that the current demand for senior living communities “far exceeds any supply that we’ve been able to create.”

Having grown up in Great Falls, Rouvelas said in the press release that the Residence at Colvin Run is a community that “will make the parents of my friends proud.”

“The parents of my friends here carpooled me and fed me at their dinner tables,” he said. “Decades later, when the opportunity arose to run a senior housing community in Great Falls, I jumped at the chance. We will run a community that will make the parents of my friends proud.”

After a nearly decade-long effort to redevelop a 1970s-era housing community, the Lake Anne House is finally open.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held last week to open the $86 million redevelopment project at 11444 North Shore Drive in Reston. The Lake Anne House is a 240-apartment complex for low-income seniors that is replacing the five-decade-old Lake Anne Fellowship House.

Conceived by the nonprofits Fellowship Square Foundation and Enterprise Community Development, the new building will house those 65 years or older who are living on incomes 60% and below the area median income.

“This new state-of-the-art building in terms of energy efficiency and accessibility sets a new standard for what affordable housing can be,” Fellowship Square CEO Christy Zeitz said in a press release. “Most importantly, it will enable financially fragile older adults to be able to age in place here in Northern Virginia for many years to come.”

While the official opening was just last Thursday (Sept. 29), residents already relocated from the Lake Anne Fellowship House to the new building over the summer.

Built in 1970, the Lake Anne Fellowship House was the first high-rise and first dedicated affordable apartment complex for seniors in Reston. It was also part of Robert Simon’s original vision for the community.

But after more than 50 years of use, the building is now considered aging, and since its construction predated the Americans with Disabilities Act, accessibility for many residents became an issue.

With the opening of the Lake Anne House, the hope is that those challenges are now solved.

In attendance at the ribbon-cutting ceremony last week were local officials, including Hunter Mill Supervisor Walter Alcorn, as well as the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Adrianne Todman.

“Lake Anne House is an example of the high-quality affordable housing we can build with ingenuity, tenacity, and partnership,” Todman said. “It is what fixing our housing supply looks like — a demonstration of how we can work collaboratively at all levels to build and rehabilitate housing — project by project, block by block, community by community — across the country.”

The idea of building a whole new complex on an underused portion of the site next to the Lake Anne Fellowship House was proposed in 2013. It took five years of design and development before the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the project in 2018.

Two years after breaking ground in October 2020, the Lake Anne House is now officially open to residents. It has 56 studios, 178 one-bedroom, and six two-bedroom apartments, including 54 fully handicap-accessible units, per a press release.

The building also has a fitness center, arts and crafts room, a social hall, a sunroom, a game room, an outdoor terrace, a wellness clinic, and on-site residents’ services offices.

Lake Anne House was mostly financed by a combination of state and local funds, including $47 million from a tax-exempt bond financing from state-created Virginia Housing.

The old building next door is now vacant and currently being used as a training location for fire departments. It’s set to be demolished early next year and the land sold to a private developer for new townhomes.

Fellowship Square also completed a renovation of its affordable housing at Hunters Woods this summer.

Construction continues to chug along on Sunrise Senior Living’s upcoming facility in McLean.

Sunrise of McLean Village broke ground at 1515 Chain Bridge Road on June 18, 2021 and is projected to move in its first residents in spring 2023, according to spokesperson John Chibnall.

“Sunrise of McLean Village is in the heart of McLean, which appeals to the growing number of older adults living in the community looking forward to their next step in life and want to remain in McLean proper,” Sunrise Senior Vice President of Design and Construction Andy Coelho told FFXnow.

Replacing the defunct McLean Medical Building, whose original owners included the first doctor to administer a polio vaccine, the senior care facility will have 100 residential units for 122 people, including 61 assisted living residences and 39 memory care residences.

Amenities for residents will include outdoor terraces, a multi-purpose bistro, lounges, a library, a formal dining room, an activity room and a theater room. A “heritage garden” will have a private section for residents and a public section open to the surrounding neighborhood — a unique feature of the McLean location, according to Coelho.

“The latest and safest building codes were taken into account when designing and building this community,” he said.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the redevelopment in October 2019 after an earlier attempt to build a 73-unit facility on Kirby Road got voted down in May 2017.

After the Kirby Road plan faced opposition over its potential impact on nearby residential neighborhoods, the approved Chain Bridge location puts Sunrise closer to downtown McLean, which is in the midst of a gradual revitalization effort.

The building will be three stories tall and have 89,983 square feet of space, with 88 parking spots, Chibnall told FFXnow.

A sales gallery and model unit are scheduled to be installed this fall. Sunrise did the interior design, while Rust Orling Architecture served as the architect. The building is being constructed by The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company.

“We selected this location because it complements our surrounding communities in the area, filling in the gap where Sunrise hasn’t been able to serve yet,” Coelho said. “We have already seen a great response from the community and have several future residents preparing to call the community home.”

Started in 1981, Sunrise has over 280 senior living communities in the U.S., including an existing Sunrise of McLean just north of the Dulles Toll Road near Tysons.

The company is also working on a facility in Vienna that’s expected to open next year. Coelho says Sunrise will share interior renderings of the building “in the coming weeks,” with a sales gallery opening to potential residents and their families in December.