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JHCC announces major renovation plans

By Erin Cohen
of The Chronicle staff

November 26th, 2004

“Our commitment is to make this a beautiful campus for residents and employees of the Jewish Home,” said Nita L. Corré, president of the Jewish Home and Care Center Foundation.

The home announced this week that it will renovate its facility, located in the Weinberg Jewish Terrace on Prospect Ave.

After looking at several options for completing the project while “minimizing trauma” for the home’s residents, said JHCC president Mina Tepper, the home plans to purchase what is currently the Mequon Care Center, located on Port Washington Rd., as a temporary home for the residents.

The plan is to move the approximately 170 current residents to the MCC, beginning next year after the High Holidays, said Tepper. Then the residents will move back to the finished home in the approximately two years it will take for the construction to be completed.

Tepper called the plan “the most compassionate scenario we could come up with,” noting that other options included moving residents to different parts of the building during construction or building an addition, where residents would live during construction, thereby creating space that would eventually become unnecessary for the home.

The home plans to take possession of the MCC in March, at which time they will give that facility a “facelift,” which will include new paint, carpeting and a deep cleaning, Tepper said.

She emphasized that the home is purchasing the MCC “with intent to sell,” after the residents make the transition back to the home.

“Everything we’re doing is for the well-being of our residents,” she said.

“No amount of money or time is being spared,” in the transition process, added Corré. “It is being taken very seriously. There will be a lot of people trained to answer questions and take suggestions.”

Though no exact details are available regarding the renovations at this point, Tepper said there are several reasons the facility is undergoing renovations.

The current facility, built 32 years ago, is a “phenomenal building,” according to Tepper. It has been “lovingly maintained and cared for, and provides a wonderful ambience for Jewish residents,” she said.

However, “today it’s no longer where it should be.” Tepper added that some of the issues with the current state of the building are bathroom size, plumbing, electrical and heating issues.

The new home, which will feature redecoration of the lower and first floors, and the complete renovation of the second through fifth floors. Those residential floors will more closely resemble the design of the Helen Bader facility, where residents’ rooms are arranged in small “households,” rather than the current design, where the residents on each floor currently have one main dining and gathering area.

“People feel more comfortable in smaller areas,” Tepper said.

Corré and Tepper also discussed the issue of couples who may be currently separated between the home and Chai Point Senior Living Apartment Complex, the facility next door.

“We do not want to break up those relationships,” said Tepper. Therefore, beginning now, the plan is to move residents of the home with a spouse or family member at Chai Point into the Helen Bader facility as spaces become available, rather than fill them with new residents.

During the transition, the home will maintain its “normal course of business,” she added, saying the home will “set up as many programs as we can to maintain continuity” throughout the transition. “All services will go on uninterrupted.”

After the renovations are complete, said Corré, “we will be ready to serve the next generation.”