There’s already demand for Mather LifeWays’ newest high-rise project—and it will prominently feature smart-home technology.
“We’ve already received three priority deposits—and the first depositor desires two units on the top floor of the first tower,” Mather LifeWays President and CEO Mary Leary told Senior Housing News of the planned $460 million life plan community opening in Tysons, Virginia, in 2022.
The new community, called The Mather, will be noticeably more modern than its predecessors.
“At the opening of our last community, we thought it was a big deal to have an electronic key card system,” Leary reminisced. But times have changed.
“People are coming to expect that technology will operate lighting, heat and air conditioning, window shades, and track package deliveries,” Leary said. As a result, Mather is looking to integrate smart home technology, like voice-enabled personal assistants that can control smart home devices, into all of the The Mather’s apartment homes.
It’s believed that voice technology can both collect valuable health care data and help older adults age in place for longer periods of time. This has led some senior housing providers, like Glendale, California-based Front Porch, to pilot Amazon.com’s (Nasdaq: AMZN) Echo device and various “smart home” technologies with residents and staff alike.
Additionally, The Mather will feature an automated parking system, which is essentially a valet “car-stacking system where three cars can be packed in a single parking space,” Leary explained.
“This is unusual not only for senior housing communities, but for residential buildings,” she said.
Evanston, Illinois-based Mather LifeWays currently manages three senior housing properties: a life plan community in Evanston, a life plan community in Tucson, Arizona, and an independent living community in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette. The forthcoming life plan community in Tysons—which is a 50/50 joint venture partnership with Illinois-based real estate investment manager Westminster Capital—will comprise two high-rise towers, one that’s 18 stories tall and one that’s 27 stories tall. The towers will also include more than 18,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
Entrance fees at The Mather will range from $650,000 to upwards of $4 million, Leary said. In addition, the community will offer residents two health care plans: a Type A life care contract and a Type B plan, which will offer residents 90 days of care, after which time they’ll have to pay the market rate for services.
The Mather Tysons is likely not the last community in the works for the nonprofit provider.
“We are looking at a couple of additional opportunities,” Leary said.
