Paric Corp. recently completed its fourth project for Ballwin, MO’s Meramec Bluffs retirement community, completing an eight-year, $84-million master building project in West St. Louis County. The continuing care retirement community now is home to more than 450 older adults.
The development is located on a 50-acre bluff-top site overlooking the Meramec River at Sulphur Spring and Vance roads. All residential groupings are nestled in the forested topography of the bluffs and offer panoramic views of the Meramec River valley and Castlewood State Park. Currently, Meramec Bluffs features 223 apartments, 25 patio homes, 56 assisted living apartments, 20 memory care units, and an 88-bed skilled nursing facility.
The final $10.7-million phase of the project added a new four-story wing, which includes an additional 103,000 square feet of living space. The 13-month fourth phase of the project added an additional 46 independent living apartments and additional garage space to what is already one of the largest and most comprehensive senior living communities in metropolitan St. Louis.
Paric completed a 66,000-square-foot skilled nursing facility as part of Phase 3 in 2006 and 122,000 square feet of independent living apartments for Phase 2 in 2005. Paric has worked with Meramec Bluffs’ parent organization, Lutheran Senior Services (LSS), since 1999.
As design-build contractor, Paric joined the project at the onset, helping LSS evaluate several campus layout options, which reduced costs on the project and offered the opportunity to re-grade the site to remain at or below a 6-percent grade to accommodate leisurely strolls throughout campus.
We have become invested in this community during our eight-year relationship on this project," said Paric President and CEO P. Joseph McKee. "We are proud to have been able to contribute to a project that will enrich the lives of so many of our seniors."
While Lutheran Senior Services has developed 19 senior living properties in Missouri and Illinois, Meramec Bluffs is the first of their communities to use the design-build approach to construction. The project’s size and the site’s complexities led to this decision, said LSS’s Vice President of Construction Mark Schoedel.
"We chose the Paric design-build team because of its experience in developing and building continuing care communities," said Schoedel. "We have been happy with our decision. Paric completed this project two months ahead of schedule and under budget."
Over the past 10 years, Paric has been awarded more than 20 retirement community projects in the St. Louis area.
