New Independent Senior Housing Complex Opens at United Hebrew of New Rochelle

NEW ROCHELLE—Meadow Lane Senior Apartments, a new independent senior housing complex at United Hebrew of New Rochelle, has received a $250,000 grant from The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation that will support its $6-million construction.

The project adds 32 low-income apartments—24 one-bedroom units and eight studios—to United Hebrew’s senior housing stock, which also includes Soundview Apartments ’ 135 units. The purpose of the Weinberg Foundation is to assist low-income and vulnerable individuals and families through nonprofit grants to direct-service providers.

Meadow Lane helps fill a growing need in the region, which has seen a dramatic decrease in programs and housing options for low-income seniors, while the aging population has increased and greater numbers of older adults have chosen to “age in place.” United Hebrew reported that senior housing demand is high and the waiting list for the Soundview independent senior living apartments on the campus has grown to more than 300 people. The wait to get in is more than three years. The new complex expands United Hebrew’s ability to accommodate them.

Meadow Lane is the latest addition to United Hebrew, and part of a transformation of its 7.5 acre campus of comprehensive care that that now includes a state-of-the-art skilled nursing and rehabilitation center, an award winning assisted living facility, and a new memory care facility devoted exclusively to the care of those with Alzheimer’s and related dementias. Additional funding came from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s section 202 program supporting housing for very low-income elderly and from private donations.

“This Weinberg grant means more to us than just the financial support it offers,” said Rita Mabli, president and CEO of United Hebrew. “It helps us to provide the best care possible to a growing number of residents, and to serve as a model eldercare community for Westchester County, the greater New York area, and the nation. We are very grateful to the Weinberg Foundation and look forward to working with them in the future as we provide for the housing needs of the seniors in our community.”

The grant for Meadow Lane is the second gift that United Hebrew has received from the Weinberg Foundation. The first, a $1.5-million challenge grant, helped to build a new, state-of-the-art skilled nursing and rehabilitation center, which opened in 2009. Meadow Lane was created in the building that housed United Hebrew’s former skilled nursing center, a four-story, 82,000-square-foot building that also includes Willow Gardens Memory Care, Westchester’s first nonprofit assisted living facility devoted exclusively to caring for those with Alzheimer’s and related dementias.

United Hebrew hopes to eventually establish Meadow Lane as a technology hub with links to medical, wellness and social services for seniors in nearby Section 202 buildings as well as those living on campus. Activities such as health programs and exercise sessions at Meadow Lane could be simulcast in the community rooms in neighboring buildings via linked-in communications systems so that seniors throughout the region could benefit from them.

John Jordan
Editor, Real Estate In-Depth