Construction in progress at senior living community Gardens of Carleton

Carleton is getting a new senior living community.

The Gardens of Carleton will be the first senior independent living/assisted living/memory care home to be opened by Gardens Senior Living of Armada.

Construction began in June on a 100-acre lot at 12400 Matthews St. Footings were poured at the end of July. The community is expected to be open in the spring and employ 70 and offer 60 apartment homes, 30 for assisted living and 30 for memory care.

A groundbreaking event to show off the progress will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 7 at the construction site. The public is welcome. Attendees can meet the senior leadership team and learn about the community and the company. Food vendors will be on-site. Items will be given away.

“Come and grab a bite, take a picture, have a conversation or just hang out,” Gardens Senior Living said in a statement. “The event is open to any and everyone who wants to see what’s happening at The Gardens.”

The Gardens of Carleton and The Gardens of Three Rivers are the first two senior living communities to be built by Gardens Senior Living's Chris Bowman and his business partner, Steven Williamson. Both communities are currently under construction. The men have plans to build at least three more senior communities.

Bowman and Williamson have backgrounds in health care and senior living. Both worked for years for large corporations but, for the last seven years, have been trying to create their own company.

“(Steve and I) had worked together in the past. We worked for a few different organizations, big national players. You get a lot of ideas. We formed this idea for how seniors should be treated, trying to create the next-best senior living. We started trying to find investors. COVID held up things with investments, but now investments are coming through,” Bowman, chief operating officer, said.

A Cincinnati native, he moved to the Michigan area in the 1980s. “I’ve been in health care since 1989, working with physically impaired children, group homes. I’ve been in senior living for 20 years,” Bowman said.

Williamson is from the Downriver area. They formed Gardens Senior Living in June and want to bring senior living to small towns.

“Seniors are everywhere. They don’t want to move to Detroit from the Monroe area. We want to come into those areas that are not as big. We are filling a need in the community,” Bowman said. “Carleton was one area that really stood out to us as having a strong history and a rebuild attitude. All the other numbers worked out as far as business.”

Williamson worked with the Carleton City Council and did some market research.

“We wanted towns that butted up to or were affiliated with larger areas, like Monroe. We look at need, census data and financial data. Carleton is a perfect initial offering for us. The timing worked out well with the city. Everything fell into place,” Bowman said.

As its name implies, the The Gardens of Carleton will focus on “gardens,” both literally and figuratively.

First, The Gardens will focus on the individual.

“Everybody, you, me, our (relatives), are all human and all so different. Vegetables, fruit, flowers are all different and all need different fertilizer, soil. This is what we’re talking about. The approach is very individual, as if a plant in the garden,” Bowman said.

Second, The Gardens will incorporate actual gardens and gardening as therapy and a way to offer hope to residents.

The home will have live walls with plants, herb gardens in the kitchen, greenhouses and gardens in the courtyard. Farm-to-table foods will be included on the menu. Residents can be involved in the gardens.

“Carleton is a garden community. Some can still cut the grass. We’re meeting them where they are at,” Bowman said. "The gardening approach is therapeutic. We want to honor the past of our seniors. We’re trying to bring some joy into their present and instill some hope into their future. Maybe they have lost loved ones and can’t drive, but they shouldn’t loose hope,” Bowman said.

The base cost of the apartments is $5,995 a month for the first year.

“The base rate offers care--like some reminders, help when called--three meals a day, life enrichment programs, activities, social events,” Bowman said. “If people need a lot of medical care, we will take them, but it will cost more. If they need help dressing, bathing, more physical care, that will increase the price. We don’t want anyone to feel like they have to leave. They can age in place; they can stay here until they pass away. We will have a memory care area and can increase care for them. We want it to be their home,” Bowman said.

After building the first five senior living communities, Bowman said the company will seek more investors and look for other towns.

“We’re Michigan-based and focus on smaller Michigan towns, but we’re not opposed to sites in other locations,” he said.

For more information on The Gardens Senior Living, visit www.gardensSL.com or Gardens Senior Living on Facebook.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Senior living community coming to Carleton