SENIOR HOUSING: Las Ventanas design exemplifies independent living

As construction of the Las Ventanas life care community continues at Charleston Boulevard and Town Center Drive, marketing director Suzanne Caldarello reflected on how the architecture and layout of the facilities will support an independent, healthy lifestyle for its senior citizen residents.

When the $77 million facility opens on 17.5 acres in May 2004, it potentially will give seniors a place to continue, or even start, active pursuits. By virtue of the amenities and services on the grounds of Las Ventanas, it will also provide caretaking for residents who might need it.

But for those who don't, the facility can make one's autumnal years vibrant and alive, Caldarello said.

"This is an environment that is going to encourage people to be actively engaged in their own lives and to continue to learn and to grow and to experience," she said. "This is not `the dead end.' This is a place where somebody's going to come and become more of what they were before they moved in."

Community amenities in the nearly completed wellness center, such as the aquatic area, fitness club, and cyber café, will help potential Las Ventanas residents become more socially involved, according to Caldarello. She said each amenity is a component of Masterpiece Living, where seniors can focus on personal growth by participating in activities such as exercise and intermingling.

The Summerlin life care community, which was developed by Greystone Communities of Dallas and Westport Senior Living of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., will embody these elements to a "T" with its design.

"Las Ventanas will have a little larger common area with more meeting space for people so that people can address the social aspect of their being," Caldarello said. "And you also have a real focus on fitness.

"There's also the larger design of the apartments -- there's more amenities in them, because they want to have all the conveniences and all the comforts of home, and they want to be able to address this need they have for continued growth and education."

The cyber café in particular is designed to help residents explore new horizons online. Caldarello stated that computers and tutelage will be available at the facility, in addition to a cup of coffee.

Residents may find the swimming pool to be similarly engaging, since it features a "beach entry," as opposed to steps, while the aerobics and water exercise classes, as well as the swim club are all geared to keeping seniors in tip-top shape.

The same can be said of the fitness club, where residents can put together an exercise program and use the area's vast array of equipment.

Caldarello stressed the importance of breaking into a sweat for residents of Las Ventanas, and why the fitness area fits into the community's modus operandi.

"One of the things that came out of a recent study is that people who are 95 years old can still build muscle mass," Caldarello explained. "And one of the things that makes people old and frail is that they lose the ability to bend, stoop and pick things up, and they're prone to accidents and falls because they lose strength.

"It has been proven that if you have some program of fitness that includes strength building that you will be much safer and have a much better quality of life."

Other parts of the wellness center under construction are the dining area, which fits in with the Masterpiece Living regimen by serving residents at all hours of the day, as well as the postal center, and the billiards and card room, another place that employs the social interactive hallmark of Las Ventanas.

Caldarello emphasized that the design of the common area, which she estimated to be 70,000 square feet, is another appropriate microcosm of the Las Ventanas construction philosophy, since it encourages social gatherings and interaction.

To create an apartment style of living, the developers are adding fireplaces to the units, as well as a one-half bath in each residence. Plus, residents can walk out onto their patios and find themselves in some degree of privacy, as the building exterior "zigzags," which keeps the neighboring patio from being too close.

"It's to give people a sense of being in a private residence where -- when they go out on their patio -- they're not `shaking hands' with the person next door," Caldarello said. "They have a sense of privacy and of being in a totally individual residence.

"It's almost like a brownstone; each little section is different -- different elevation on the first floor, the second floor and the third floor. There's different elevation from apartment to apartment, so it almost looks like each is an individual little residence."

Potential residents are embracing this feeling of independence, as sales have "skyrocketed" in recent months, and some apartments are now in "very short supply," according to Caldarello.

Even with construction only about one-fifth completed, Caldarello can envision the finished product, and how it will accomplish the lifestyle objectives of the life care community.

"Architecturally, I think they've gone to great lengths to not only keep it consistent with what you see in the rest of Summerlin, but that it will have more common space and recreational space than most apartment communities for people of all ages," she said. "We're going the extra mile to enhance the quality of life of every individual who lives in the community and to make it the best -- and most independent -- community it can possibly be."

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