Pandemic prompts changes to St. Pete nursing facility

A planned skilled nursing facility in west St. Petersburg expects to grow about 5.7 percent larger in size because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The developer will add about 15,000 square feet to the project to accommodate greater separation and isolation standards deemed necessary for the treatment and care of patients with the virus.

The St. Petersburg Community Planning & Preservation Commission last week approved an amendment to an existing development agreement allowing for the expansion. The City Council will consider the measure in December.

The skilled nursing facility is one element of American House St. Petersburg, a full-continuum of care retirement community on the northeast corner of 9th Avenue and 66th Street North. The retirement community will occupy about 12 acres of the 18 acre site.

The first phase of the project is under construction. The amended development agreement includes a three-story building with 66 independent living units, a two-story, 75-bed assisted living facility and a one-story, 40-bed memory care facility, as well as a one-story auxiliary and support services building. An additional 20 beds could be added to the memory care facility in the future. The goal is to complete phase one of the project by the end of 2020, Liz Abernethy, the city’s director of planning and development services, told the Community Planning & Preservation Commission.

A three-story, 120-bed skilled nursing facility that will be at the north end of the property is in the final design phase, with construction expected to begin in mid-2021.

Under the amendment development agreement, the proposed skilled nursing facility building would increase from 261,795 square feet to 276,794 square feet, an increase of 14,999 square feet or 5.7 percent. The size increase is designed to comply with expected state requirements, Allan Brown, co-founder and principal with Prevarian Companies, the project owner, told the commission.

“The state, like everybody else, is trying to figure out what to do next but they’ve made recommendations to skilled nursing providers that they increase the number and size of their isolation rooms,” Brown said. “Because of the transmissibility of the virus and keeping people isolated, they want more capacity in skilled nursing facilities, given all the problems we’ve seen in skilled nursing facilities.”

The project has been well-received and a number of people already have applied to move into the community, Brown said.

“The continuing care retirement community concept is very progressive and very forward looking, the idea being that you have independent living, assisted living and skilled care all on the same site, so that if you graduate if you will from independent living to skilled care, you do not have to leave the community you are originally in. It’s a great concept and I’m glad to see this being added,” said William “Will” Michaels, a member of the Community Planning & Preservation Commission and a former director of a retirement community.

The development agreement for the site also includes a plan for commercial development on about six acres of the property adjacent to 66th Avenue. That part of the project could have up to 55,000 square feet of development, which could include a bank branch, medical office space, daycare space or a mix of professional office uses. There hasn’t been any development proposed so far on the commercial parcels, according to the city.