Douglas Gardens North, a subsidiary corporation of the Miami Jewish Home and Hospital at Douglas Gardens, is adding a new building to its campus in Pembroke Pines. Construction has begun on a 52-unit HUD Section 202 affordable housing building for low-income, independent seniors. It is directly adjacent to DGNs Ann and Albert Jacobs Building, which opened in February 2006 and has a five year waiting period for apartments for its 94 HUD-subsidized affordable housing units. Construction on the new building should take 12 to 14 months, so a grand opening is expected in late fall 2008. Applications for residency will be accepted starting 90 days prior to the opening.
Located on 30 acres of land leased from the State of Florida for $1 a year, Douglas Gardens North represents a partnership between the Miami Jewish Home and Hospital, the State, and the City of Pembroke Pines to create an innovative, futuristic model campus for seniors. It is conceived as being a unique and integral part of the Howard Forman Health Park, a 300-acre tract of land owned by the State of Florida and managed by the City of Pembroke Pines. Aside from the affordable housing apartments for low-income elderly already available or under construction, plans for Douglas Gardens North include market rate independent living residences for seniors requiring little care; assisted living apartments offering more supervision and care, and special care facilities with a full spectrum of services for the very frail elderly. Other services planned for the campus are adult day care, Alzheimers research, Physician Services, and many of the other special services found on the Douglas Gardens campus of the Miami Jewish Home.
When fully developed Douglas Gardens North is expected to provide a full spectrum of housing. “Were planning to do 130 independent living units in the near future, with the rest to follow,” says Berger. “This will be a place where seniors can be totally independent, rent their own place, have a car, shop but never have to move. The threat of having to move is so traumatic to the elderly.”
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