BRUNSWICK

Coastal Landing retirement community is set to open its doors in the fall. Despite some construction clutter, tours and bookings have already begun.

The newly renovated former hotel at Brunswick Landing is set to provide studios and one- and two-bedroom units. The units are set up to provide as little or as much services as you may need, right down to meals, laundry, housekeeping and medication administration.

Mitch and Janet Rousseau of Rousseau Management saw the newly built but never used Gateway Inn and Suites at Brunswick Landing as a perfect complement to their other businesses including Horizons Living and Rehabilitation Services, Dionne Commons, Assisted Home Care II and the Skolfield House.

Residents of Skolfield House assisted living will soon be getting an upgrade, moving into one wing of Coastal Landing.

Residents will no longer have to share a room or bathroom.

In all, there are 82 independent living apartments and 40 assisted living apartments on the Skolfield wing.

Included in the monthly rent are a choice of two meals daily, scheduled local transportation, activities and social events, heat and electricity, light housekeeping, maintenance service, private bathroom and kitchenette, and access to a free laundry room.

There is also an a la carte list of additional services such as additional meals, medication administration, beauty or barber shop, cable and Internet.

Rental fees run from $2,400 per month for a 324-square-foot studio to $2,700 per month for a one-bedroom unit or $3,000 per month for a two-bed- room unit.

There is also a small store in the community that will stock everyday essentials like toiletries and snacks. The plan is for residents who are not quite ready to give up working altogether to operate the store.

“I know my parents are retired and it’s important — really important, even if it’s just one day a week to get out and do something. It’s great to be able to do that for someone who wants to,” said Nancy Rousseau about working at the store.

Rousseau said that although the building was set up to open as a hotel and never used, extensive renovations were still necessary including the addition of a new entryway, commercial kitchen, main dining area and elevators.

One of the things the Rousseaus said they had to deal with was all the hotel furniture, much of which wound up being donated to schools and nonprofits.

Other renovations included the addition of common areas and sitting areas as well as the addition of office space, an ice cream parlor, beauty parlor, exercise room, movie theater and a chapel with pews taken from the former base chapel. Some rooms were also altered to further accommodate wheelchairs with lower closet shelves, chair friendly sinks and bathroom accommodations.

Kennel run planned

Rousseau also said that as many residents will be bringing pets with them a kennel run will be added to the grounds.

Administrator Sue Carey said that although the community has yet to open, bookings are going great. “We’ve had a lot of tours — a lot of interest,” she said. Some units have already been booked in the community that rents month-to-month.

After about a year of renovations, Rousseau said he hopes to have the doors open by Oct. 1 with open houses held October through November. The Skolfield House staff will be brought over and Rousseau estimates the new community will create

15 to 20 new jobs.

Skolfield House Administrator Amanda Allen said the Rousseaus went out of their way to keep as much of their business for Coastal Landing local.

“They’re local — they use a lot of local companies. They really do try to use local business for the services they provide here,” Allen said.

Allen pointed to the movie theater equipment, saying Custom Home Theater in Brunswick provided the technical expertise in creating the screen, projector and surround sound system, while Carrot Signs from Topsham took care of signage for the community.

Janet Rousseau said the community is also trying to operate as environmentally sound as possible.

“I know as far as being green, I love that in a facility and all of our facilities we compost now, we have natural gas, we recycle everything — that’s really important to Mitch and I,” Rousseau said.

It’s a practice that will pay dividends for Coastal Landing as the compost program they use will return some of the composted material back for use in the garden they plan on establishing on the grounds.

Being in the new building and having the ability to create opportunities for residents to utilize technology is an exciting concept for the Rousseaus and Allen. They said for many years they have been working with Depression-era residents and are now seeing baby boomers with smart phones and tablets in hand.

With access to Cook’s Corner for shopping and a location just down the street from the Recreation Center, the Rousseaus say Coastal Landing is a prime location for this kind of venture.

Available units

THE NEWLY RENOVATED former hotel at Brunswick Landing is set to provide studios and one- and twobedroom units. Rental fees run from $2,400 per month for a 324-squarefoot studio to $2,700 per month for a one-bedroom unit or $3,000 per month for a two-bedroom unit.