Published May 2004

Olympic Place set to open
in Arlington

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

Interest in Olympic Place Retirement & Assisted Living Community has been brisk of late as the 108-unit complex in Arlington nears completion, the building’s administrator said.

“The (consumer) traffic has been high; I think this building has some sizzle. ... And not only from the Arlington population, but from folks 20 to 30 miles away,” said Lynn Dicus, adding that as of early April, more than 10 of the apartments had been reserved.

The community, which is being developed by Mountain West Senior Housing LLC and managed by Salem, Ore.-based Mountain West Retirement Corp., is expected to open soon after the Fourth of July. And when it does, residents can expect high-quality service, leisure-time amenities and well-designed apartments to suit their needs, Dicus said.

“People want more,” Dicus said of the growing retirement-age demographic. “They want more room, they want light apartments and more services. They’re more active now, and we want them to be more active.”

The 91,000-square-foot facility includes dining areas for both its independent-living and assisted-living residents, an on-site beauty and barber salon, an activities lounge, a library and TV room and sitting nooks on all three floors.

Services provided as part of the monthly rent include weekly housekeeping with bed linen and towel service, all utilities except phone, recreational programs, scheduled transportation in the community van, complimentary laundry facilities and on-site staff 24 hours a day.

Also, independent-living residents, whose apartments come equipped with full kitchens, are served one meal daily from the Olympic Place kitchens; assisted-living residents, whose apartments feature kitchenettes with a microwave and refrigerator/freezer, are served three meals daily, Dicus said.

Of the 108 units, 62 are for assisted-living residents, with 23 studios and 39 one-bedroom apartments ranging in size from 340 square feet to 614 square feet, Dicus said.

The other 46 units are for independent-living residents, with six studios, 16 one-bedroom units and 24 two-bedroom apartments — 15 of those having a two-bedroom, two-bathroom configuration, Dicus said. Living space ranges from 457 square feet to 892 square feet.

Monthly costs range from $1,950 to $2,450 for assisted living and $1,450 to $2,125 for independent living, Dicus said, with between 10 and 15 assisted-living units to be used for residents on Medicaid.

Designed with two three-story wings and a central area for the dining room and administrative offices, the building “has a very large footprint” for the number of units it has, Dicus said. And its location, at 20909 Olympic Place, is just down the street from a growing retail center that includes opportunities for grocery shopping, banking and dining, and also is near Cascade Valley Hospital, doctor’s offices and Regency Care Center, a skilled-nursing and long-term-care facility.

Dicus, who last year helped Mountain West open its Auburn Meadows Senior Community in Auburn, said the market for retirement housing in Washington state is in demand — and will continue to be.

This year alone, Mountain West, which operates 15 retirement communities in the Northwest, is opening facilities in Arlington, Lacey, Yelm and Wenatchee, Dicus said. Next year, the company expects to open retirement communities in Bonney Lake, Puyallup, Port Orchard and Port Townsend.

“A lot of people think it’s an exploding business,” Dicus said. But while baby boomers are starting to reach the retirement age, they’re not automatically moving into retirement communities after leaving the work force — it’s a gradual transition, one that will cause the retirement industry to really explode in the next decade, she said.

“The wave is starting to build,” he said. “We need to be ready for these people as they age.”

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