Cornerstone at Canton holds groundbreaking

L-R: Planning Board Chair Jeremy Comeau, Selectmen Vice Chair Avril Elkort, ZBA member Kevin Feeney, Attorney Paul Schneiders, ZBA member John Marini, Cornerstone at Canton Executive Director Michael Schaus, Cornerstone’s owner and general contractor Steve Krook, Senior Living Residences Managing Partner Peter Mullin, construction assistant supervisor Dustin Krook, and Lee Robator, VP, senior commercial banking relationship manager for NBT Bank

Cornerstone at Canton, the town’s new 86-unit senior living community, held its official groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday, June 11. Located on Revere Street across from the former Plymouth Rubber site, Cornerstone will offer local seniors in Canton and neighboring communities throughout the Neponset Valley area “service-enriched assisted living and a state-of-the-art Compass Memory Support Neighborhood,” which is affiliated with the Boston University School of Medicine’s Alzheimer’s Disease Center.

Community leaders in attendance included Selectmen Vice Chairman Avril Elkort, Planning Board Chairman Jeremy Comeau, Kevin Feeney and John Marini of the Zoning Board of Appeals, President of the Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce Thomas O’Rourke, Washawn Jones, the NVCC director of membership development, and Attorney Paul Schneiders of Schneiders and Schneiders.

Work on the site has already commenced. The site has been cleared and leveled and loam is being trucked in to prepare the ground prior to laying the foundation. The project’s construction team expects to pour the foundation in just a few weeks. Peter Lee, project manager with SPL Development, one of the companies involved with the new project, said, “It is our expectation that construction will proceed smoothly toward an opening date in spring 2015.”

“We’ve been looking for something like this, and to get one of such quality is lovely,” said Elkort, speaking at the ceremony. “Too many people in Canton have had to leave Canton because of age or infirmities and they lose their comfort zone, they lose their town, they lose their friends. Here, they can stay … We look forward to using [these] facilities and having our friends here.”

“This project definitely helps the town in a positive way,” said Comeau, who also spoke at the ceremony. “For Canton seniors, there is a place for them to go now, a quality place. It’s a positive impact on our environment. There is obviously more green space than we’ve had before. Thank you. I know that the neighbors are happy.”

Marini, who also spoke, thought it was a testament to the project that there were no objections from neighbors or abutters or anyone in the town. “I’m a real estate guy,” he said, “and I say that this is going to be one of the nicest developments in the downtown area, because number one, its not going to bring any traffic, it’s not going to bring any schools, it’s just going to give older people a place to enjoy downtown. They can walk to the downtown, they can do shopping in the square. It’s just going to bring life to this whole place.”

Peter Mullin, managing partner at Senior Living Residences, an owner of Cornerstone at Canton and the company that will manage the property, emceed the event. “What brought us to Canton?” he asked. “We like to be in a town that no one likes to leave. The seniors in Canton don’t want to have to go somewhere else for top-notch assisted living or Alzheimer’s care.”

The new community is being built on Revere Street just off the downtown area. The building, according to the developers, will feature “spacious studio and one-bedroom apartments with a variety of indoor spaces, including a dramatic dining room, a library with computers available for community use, a full-service salon, a café where residents will attend cooking classes, and a large community room for the performing arts and visiting guest lecturers.”

The community will be managed professionally by Senior Living Residences (SLR), which currently owns or manages 12 other senior communities in Massachusetts, including Cornerstone at Milford, the sister community of the Canton project.

Mullin explained that the first job of the local team at Cornerstone will be to get out into the community and find out how they can help. “Our company’s philosophy is, if you move in, that’s great,” he said, “but more important, we understand what seniors need, and if we can help you find the person that is going to solve your problem, that’s our job for the day, whether or not you move into Cornerstone.”

A furnished model apartment, showcasing the layout and quality of interior finishes, will be open for touring in the fall. The local on-site staff from Cornerstone will be hosting monthly information sessions at local restaurants in the Canton area for those who are interested in learning more about the new community.

For more information, go to www.cornerstonecanton.com or call 781-821-3616.

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Posted by Canton Citizen on Jun 26 2014. Filed under News. Both comments and pings are currently closed.