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Heather Whitley was in her backyard grilling hamburgers one day in 2003.
She went inside to tell her wife, Nancy, and a slew of houseguests that dinner was ready, and was greeted instead with a request to draft a business proposal for a multi-faceted real estate development project that she would soon be partner to.
“It was apparently somewhere between medium rare and well done that our lives changed,” she remarked.
Indeed, Nancy had relayed an idea she and Heather shared to a group of like-minded friends, and from there it was goodbye burgers and dogs, and hello building development.
“We knew what we wanted to create,” said Nancy. “A place in which people could feel safe and happy as they grew older. And we knew if we didn’t create it, some old white man of means would, and we’d be kicking ourselves.”
Nancy and Heather Whitley began a journey that day that has taken them quite literally to the rooftops of Easthampton, in search of a building they could transform into a condominium complex that would cater to a diverse community and maintain a strong emphasis on the health and well-being of its tenants.
Dubbed Paradise One, the 80-plus condominium development project is currently underway at 15 Cottage Street in downtown Easthampton, adjacent to an already bustling mill building filled with artists and craftspeople and directly across from the bucolic Nashawannuck Pond. Formerly the home of Easthampton Dyeworks, the building was purchased by David L. Murphy of Boston, president of Jefferson Development Partners LLC, in May 2005, and and the Whitley’s company, Possibilities LLC, joined forces with Murphy’s outfit shortly thereafter to form Paradise One Properties. Construction is slated to begin in just a few months, to be completed by fall 2008.
It’s the perfect spot, said Nancy, to build a community that will in many ways mirror Western Mass., but will also serve as the first development of its kind anywhere – one that includes an infrastructure designed specifically to support the newest in telehealth technology.
Modern Meds
The proposed condos are now being marketed to people from all walks of life: particularly, the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community as well as straight singles, couples, and families of all ages and backgrounds. There is a special marketing push toward Baby Boomers, those who are now contemplating the next phase of their lives and how to best live them, happily and healthily.
Beyond the luxury amenities and the prime location, the Paradise One condos will also include an extensive concierge concept that the Whitleys have devised, and trademarked.
Concierge services within the condos will run a wide gamut, pairing technology-based services with actual on-site staff to serve tenants’ various needs. Ranging from interactive screens and integrated entertainments systems, to on-site assistants and transportation services, the concierge component of Paradise One is meant to address the needs of “the whole person,” as the Whitleys put it.
“The electronic piece is the hub of the concept,” said Heather Whitley, “that is meant to connect the different facets of someone’s life.”
She explained that by utilizing the Paradise One concierge services, either through the technology available in each unit or a staff member, tenants can send flowers to mom, schedule a dry cleaning pick up, connect via digital video with friends and neighbors, or order Rolling Stones tickets.
But it’s not just entertainment and convenience that the Whitleys hoped to offer through extensive concierge services. Currently, they own a home health business, Barton’s Angels, and are well acquainted with the positives associated with bringing health and wellness services directly to a client. As such, there will be a strong wellness tie-in to the concierge services, drawing from the growing sector of telemedicine within the health care industry.
They said telemedicine or telehealth is one more way to underscore the importance of wellness for those people who hope to remain in their own homes and their own space, for as long as possible.
“The whole property will have the infrastructure necessary to support the telemedicine component,” said Nancy, noting that Intel, the computer chip manufacturer, is working with them to design that infrastructure. “In the past few years, Intel’s entire focus has shifted internally to include a huge health care component. They have an entire department devoted to digital health, and a research and development division devoted to ‘aging in place.’ The focus has shifted toward health, and toward home health in particular, because there is such a growing national market for such services. We all know that with Baby Boomers aging, we are not going to be able to foot the health care bill that’s coming toward us. We need to start thinking proactively now about ways to improve health care and to provide it more economically to everyone.”
Through Paradise One, and more specifically its proposed telemedicine components, that’s a comfort level the Whitleys to achieve. The telehealth technology at Paradise One will be expandable, upgradeable, and customized to each tenant’s needs, whether they be strictly health and fitness maintenance or care and monitoring of more specific conditions. Augmenting the technology will be an overall design scheme common to each condo unit – universal design, which incorporates wide, open spaces and ease-of-use design components meant to make ‘aging in place’ simpler.
Harmony House
“People want to feel at home, be comfortable, for as long as possible,” said Nancy. “We’d like this to be a vibrant, progressive community where all types of people can live in harmony.”
She added that she expects building costs to top $25 million, including soft costs, much of which is being financed through private equity investors (all are women) as well as bank financing. Units are projected to sell for between $260,000 and $500,000, and in addition to telemedicine capabilities, will feature loft-style condos, a function and entertaining space dubbed Club Paradise, guest accommodations for visitors, a business center, rooftop gardens, indoor parking, and the trademark sky-high ceilings and towering windows that all converted mills boast.
But the project has become much larger than just real estate development endeavor. The Whitleys say, in fact, that it’s a real estate project second, and an experiment in innovation first.
“It has been a challenge,” Nancy said, noting that in addition to the unique community Paradise One will create, the complex itself, designed by Kuhn-Riddle of Amherst, will be the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified residential building in the area. “We knew intuitively what our criteria were, but we spent a lot of time throwing mud up against the wall to see what would stick. In the end, we have largely gone with what people have said they also want to see: a place that is reflective of the Valley. A rich, active environment, that is universally designed, accessible, and environmentally conscious, and a place where people will receive support, regardless of the road they want to travel.”
Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at stevenson@healthcarenews.com
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