Rehab Center Moving to Peabody

In about 15 months, the on Paradise Road will be moving seven miles away to a new, larger campus on Lynnfield Street in Peabody.

The nonprofit Aviv Centers for Living has started constructing a new Waldfogel Health Center on about 20 acres near I-95 and Rte. 128. The new center at 240 Lynnfield is expected to provide state-of-the-art medical care for the growing elderly North Shore population in a facility that is more accessible to the population centers in Danvers, Beverly and towns further north, as well as in Boston.

“I don't think there is going to be much of an impact on the current population,” said Steven Neff, president and CEO. “Everybody is excited.”

The average stay for a JRC resident is a year, and rehabilitation patients stay about 21 days, he said.

The new health center will have 144 beds, designed in nine 16-bed households, each with its own dining room, living area and staff. Seventy-five percent of the beds will be in private rooms.

One floor of the new center will be dedicated to Alzheimer’s and memory care.

The JRC, which opened in 1972, currently features 176 beds and cares on a day-time only basis for about 50 elderly people in the Shapiro-Rudolph Adult Day Center. Most of the beds are in semi-private rooms. There are only eight private rooms at the center.

Neff said the company has not decided what it will do with the Swampscott building. The move will cause no loss of tax revenue to the town.

The new building, which will be paired with the existing Woodbridge Assisted Living Center on the Peabody Campus, will offer adult day services and an early childhood center, making it the first intergenerational senior facility in the area.

“Some of our residents like having children around,” he said.

Although Aviv is decreasing the number of skilled nursing beds in the new facility, it expects to double the number of patients and residents it serves because its sub-acute care units will discharge many patients after only a short stay or on an out-patient basis.

About a third of the patients will be treated in shorter stays and discharged, he said.

Neff said there are about 45 admissions a month at JRC. At the new center, he expects to have 80 to 90 admissions and discharges per month.

The new facility is being named Waldfogel Health Center because of a $1 million naming gift from the Morton and Lillian Waldfogel Charitable Foundation. The Jewish Historical Society, which will have offices in the new facility, will showcase exhibits on local Jewish heritage throughout the buildings.

The $35 million project is being financed with a letter of credit totalling $50 million, which will also cover the refinancing of existing debt on the facilities. The interest rate is at 4.5 percent – which Neff called one of the lowest in the nation. Aviv’s bonds are supported by two $25 million bank letters of credit, one provided by M&T Bank and the other by Citizens Bank.

“Each percent less on Aviv’s cost of capital is $500,000 that we are able to spend on delivering high quality health care services. Aviv put together the A Team and was relentless in presenting our credit worthiness to our banks.” Neff said.