SHERBURN — Temperance Lake Ridge in Sherburn is nearly done with a large expansion and remodel project. The cost of the project was more than $4 million.
The senior living facility broke ground on the project in June of 2019. The project was expected to take about a year, but executive director Lisa Lange said the COVID-19 pandemic slowed it down.
“We had to stop working on the project for two and a half months,” Lange said.
The main addition includes 14 rooms to the memory care side. This will double their capacity for residents with dementia or Alzheimer’s.
“We finished the add-on about five months ago and moved the existing tenants to the addition and we are remodeling the older parts to match the new parts,” Lange said.
She said they will be able to move residents into the remodeled rooms in about two weeks.
There will now be 28 rooms on the memory care side. Lange said eight of the 14 new rooms are spoken for but there are still some available rooms.
Quite a few other new rooms were Texture Spray Machine added during the project. The facility gained a living room, dining room, family room, activity room, spa room, wellness center, several fireplace areas, staff break room and an attached garage where the bus can park and where ambulances can pull into to pick up tenants.
Some extra features, including a therapeutic moss wall and interactive bubble columns, also were added.
The remodel was done by Miller Architects & Builders, which is based out of St. Cloud. It did the facility’s first expansion in 2012.
Before the project started, the city of Sherburn underwent a feasibility study and it was determined that the town would be able to support the addition. It was also determined that the extra memory care rooms were greatly needed.
The expansion will not only provide a space for community members in need of care, but will bring several jobs to the community as well.
“Since we’re doubling our capacity, we’re be adding eight full-time jobs and seven part-time jobs,” Lange said.