The details behind Grand Living at Lake Lorraine help explain the “grand” in its name.
The new senior living complex will offer dining options from a bistro to a club room to a formal dining.
It will have a performance theater.
And a woodworking/craft studio.
It will offer a salon and spa.
And there will be a pet grooming center.
“We’re not designing for a senior population. We’re designing for ourselves,” said Dan Peterka, founder and CEO of Grand Living. “We look at it as where would we want to live?”
The Sioux Falls project, which sits between Interstate 29 and Marion Road in the Lake Lorraine development, is the first for Grand Living. The company was founded two years ago by colleagues who are veterans in the senior living industry.
Peterka, chief operating officer Melinda Seifert and Gary Solomonson, who heads business development, have worked together for 25 years.
“We worked for another company and left to start up Grand Living to take it to another level,” Peterka said.
The trio is familiar with the Sioux Falls area. Peterka is a native of Miller. Seifert is from Iowa, and Solomonson grew up in southwest Minnesota.
A cold-call from commercial broker Ryan Tysdal of Lloyd Cos. started the conversation about building in Sioux Falls.
“We had just formed Grand Living and were putting together our business plan,” Peterka said. “He (Tysdal) said, ‘Dan, I know you guys know the senior industry, and I want you to consider coming to Sioux Falls.’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’ This is like going home for all of us.”
Market research confirmed the opportunity, Tysdal said.
“It was very much for them run, don’t walk to Sioux Falls, because there’s a lot of opportunity and a lot of need,” he said. “Facilities in town have waiting lists.”
While they first toured Lake Lorraine on a frozen February day, it immediately became the site of choice, Tysdal said.
“We like the nearby retail, nearby hotels, restaurants,” he said. “The walkability of the whole site along the lake really fosters good activity.”
The project will be a 200,000-square-foot building on four levels. There will be 156 apartments, including assisted living and memory care units.
The multiple dining areas are designed to offer seniors options, so they don’t eat multiple meals a day in the same place. There also are programs meant to foster lifelong learning, as well as opportunities for residents to play musical instruments and make things.
“A lot of people later in life enjoy doing a craft they did for a while when they were younger or continue to do one they’ve always done,” Solomonson said. “Music is a major part of our program.”