Senior living project nears grand opening: Residence in Burlingame perseveres through financial challenges, prepares for opening doors to residents

Elected officials and members of the local medical community will gather Thursday, June 25, for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Sunrise Senior Living, 1818 Trousdale Drive.

The event marks the culmination of a nearly decade-long process, during which time the four-story, 80-unit project had stalled, from being approved in 2006 and halting years later due to the economic downturn.

Jeff Slichta, senior vice president of operations at Sunrise Senior Living for the western region, said he was excited that the 65,000-square-foot facility will soon be able to offer care to nearly 100 residents who will live on the premises when it is operating at full capacity.

“We are thrilled to bring the Burlingame community this new building,” he said.

Sunrise Senior Living will offer roughly 80 jobs to local residents, who will begin serving the first patient who moves to the facility Monday, June 29.

“This is just going to be tremendously exciting for us,” Slichta said.

The project is roughly one block away from The Trousdale, a 132-bed facility developed by the Peninsula Health Care District, which recently broke ground and will also serve Alzheimer’s disease and memory loss patients.

Slichta said he believes the proximity of the two facilities, combined with the presence of the medical center nearby, will aid in developing an environment which will best serve patients.

“I believe that having a competitor down the street will only make us better,” he said.

Burlingame Councilman Michael Brownrigg said city officials are looking forward to the facility opening its doors, and officially closing the book on the period of uncertainty whether the project would ever to be able to get off the ground.

“We’re very excited about it,” he said. “We’re excited for the patients’ sake, excited for Sunrise’s sake and excited for the city.”

Brownrigg was mayor when the project stalled, and recalled interactions with residents who at the time were concerned with the eyesore the site had become when construction stopped.

He credited the company for its commitment to seeing the project through, and said both parties can look forward to working together toward serving an aging population.

“We as a city pushed real hard on the owners of Sunrise to get their financial act together and they did and I’m glad they did,” he said.

The project’s location near other care facilities is ideal as well, said Brownrigg.

“We lean into the notion that is a cutting edge area for senior health,” he said. “This is a very exciting vision.”

Mayor Terry Nagel echoed those sentiments, and said the project would go toward serving a generation of local residents who may soon require care for memory loss.

“We really need to look to the future to serve an aging population,” she said.

Slichta said he appreciated the willingness of city officials to stay committed to getting the project built, even through the years when the future of the facility was in question.

Slichta said he can recall when only a shell of the project had been built, and now has trouble believing how far the facility has progressed in a relatively short amount of time.

But as the residence is on the precipice of being able to open its doors, Slichta said the company and community are aligned in their anticipation of serving patients.

“It’s the start of a new chapter, and we’re really glad it can begin in Burlingame,” he said.

The Sunrise Senior Living, 1818 Trousdale Drive, will celebrate a ribbon cutting Thursday, June 25. The event begins at 4 p.m.

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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