Healthcare Multi Residential Senior/Assisted Living

Cutler Completes Brightview Country Club Heights in Woburn

by Rebecca Lane Geary

Cutler Associates of Worcester, Mass. and Tampa, Fla., recently completed a $1.7 million multi-phase renovation and memory support conversion for Brightview Senior Living, based in Baltimore, Md.  As construction manager, Cutler worked closely with the Portsmouth, N.H. architectural firm JSA Inc., to transform Brightview’s award-winning Country Club Heights independent and assisted living community in Woburn, MA.

Located on the fifth green of the Woburn Country Club public golf course, Brightview Country Club Heights offers vibrant assisted living.  For the initial project phase, Cutler was hired to renovate several apartments located throughout the community.  Phase one had an aggressive eight-week schedule in order to meet the start date of the second phase.  Materials procurement in advance of the project start allowed for that schedule to be met.

In the second phase, residents were relocated and the entire second floor was converted to a secure memory-care neighborhood.  Country Club Height’s new Wellspring Village® consists of 24 apartments, activity, dining and living room spaces, and a new exterior deck.  The secure and supportive environment is specifically designed for the needs of those with dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other memory limitations.  Maureen McNamara, Brightview’s regional director of operations, affirms, “Residents and families are thoroughly enjoying all of the new spaces.”

As with most building renovations, there were challenges to be met.  Since the new dementia neighborhood was being constructed directly above the building’s community space, the logistics of completing this work in an occupied facility was a major challenge.  However, with careful planning, activities in the first floor public areas continued and daily routines saw minimal disruption.  Another challenge faced was in bringing construction up to current building code.  Finally, working with the existing pre-cast plank construction presented its own set of challenges, particularly given the scope of this renovation.  With teamwork and good planning the 28-week project schedule was adhered to.

Based in Baltimore, Md., Brightview Senior Living, LLC opened its first senior living community in Maryland in 1999. Today, Brightview offers 28 communities in seven states:  Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia.  The communities include independent living, assisted living and memory care options.

The Country Club Heights project is one example of how senior living providers are growing and changing to keep up with the increasing demand for – and specialized needs related to, housing options for our country’s rapidly growing senior population.  By way of example, Cutler has three memory support conversion projects currently in progress and has completed five others over the past three years.

Rebecca Lane Geary, is director of marketing at Cutler Associates, Inc.