Senior living facility would grow to over 90 units

“In Livingston, there are not as many assisted-living facilities as elsewhere. The population is growing. It’s an aging population,” and people of the baby boomer generation are retiring every day, said Nidhal Ghraib, a real estate appraiser in Livonia.

Ghraib, his parents and a group of investment partners intend to build a new assisted-living facility on North Burkhart Road north of the airport in Howell Township, which would eventually have independent-living units as well.

“Demand is definitely outpacing supply” in the county, he said.

He said Wayne and Oakland counties have “double, if not triple” the number of beds in assisted-living facilities as does Livingston County.

The proposed assisted-living residence — tentative called Quality Care of Howell — would be built in four phases, beginning with 20 or 21 assisted-living units.

“Once we fill those up, we’ll build more,” until approximately 80 assisted-living units are up, he said.

The facility would feature “a beauty salon, dining area for three meals, library, physical therapy and a Jacuzzi,” he said. “We’ll also have activities for seniors.”

After that, independent-living residences for seniors would be built. The plan is for “11 duplex-style (buildings) for potentially up to 22 units,” he said.

Nidhal’s father, Paul Ghraib, who works in assessing and real estate, said they would be “good, affordable facilities.”

“What we’re building is not high-end,” which would keep the cost of renting units down — assisted-living can be thousands upon thousands of dollars a month—but it will be a place “I would want to live in,” he said.

The facility would employ nurses, but “it will not be headed by a doctor and there will not be medical treatment there. It is a place to stay and do activities,” Nidhal Ghraib said.

He said there might be a room where doctors can make house calls.

In the future, they might entertain the idea of adding a rehabilitation center on the property.

“We’ll wait and see what is the market demand,” Paul Ghraib said.

Initially, about 15 to 20 full-time and part-time staff members would be hired.

“We’d like very much to break ground before the harsh winter starts and open mid- or late summer next year,” Paul Ghraib said.

He and his partners are in the process of purchasing vacant land from Howell Township. The township bought it in a tax sale from the state following a foreclosure.

However, the purchase of the land is still pending, because “an assessor wrote the wrong legal description when it went to the state, and that is delaying us right now,” Nidhal Ghraib said, adding that they filed with the court to clear up the matter.

Township Clerk Carolyn Eaton found it to be “a good project that is supposed to be a little less expensive than larger facilities,” she said. “It sounds like they are going to do an attractive building.”

The township’s planning commission granted the project preliminary site-plan approval Tuesday and recommended that the board of trustees approve a special land-use permit.

Township officials previously approved a conditional rezoning of the land to allow multiple family residential.

However, Eaton said clearing up the issue could take some time.

“We’re working on that. It looks like the title won’t be clear for up to 90 days,” Eaton said.

“We’ll start building as soon as we can close on the land,” Nidhal Ghraib said. “It’s frustrating but the land is worth it.”

Contact Livingston Daily county and townships reporter Jennifer Eberbach at 517-548-7148 or at jeberbach@livingstondaily.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenTheWriter.