Construction underway on Maine Veterans' Homes $91M Augusta complex

Courtesy / Cianbro Corp. A rendering of the under-construction Maine Veterans' Homes Augusta long-term care residence.

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By Staff

Construction is underway on the 179,000-square-foot Maine Veterans' Homes senior residence in Augusta.

Cianbro Corp. of Pittsfield and joint venture partner VJS Construction Services of Pewaukee, Wisc., broke ground in April on the 138-bed four-building complex, which replaces the 150-bed Cony Road long-term care residence, which was built in 1983.

The $91 million complex is on 44 acres across Old Belgrade Road from MaineGeneral Medical Center, the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care and Kennebec Pharmacy and Home Care, and close by Exit 113 of Interstate 95. It was designed jointly by Milwaukee-based Plunkett Raysich Architects and Gawron Turgeon Architects of Scarborough.

The new campus will comprise four two-story buildings, including three residential buildings centered on the “small house” model, which features private bedrooms and bathrooms for every resident. Each residential building will have 10 to 15 private rooms clustered around a living room, dining room, den, and kitchen in which residents are encouraged to gather and help prepare meals if so inclined.

The fourth building will have a gym, large rehab pool and extensive multipurpose room. It will also feature a “town center” with storefronts housing amenities such as a barber shop/beauty parlor, movie theater, bistro and veteran’s club. Outdoor amenities include patios, raised gardening beds, and a stocked pond where residents can fish.

“We hope this new facility will be a fitting tribute to our veterans and provide them the home, dignity and quality of life that they so richly deserve,” said Maine Veterans' Homes CEO Kelley Kash. “We look forward to opening the doors of the new Augusta home by this time in 2021.”

The new residence is less like a hospital, and more like a home, Deb Fournier, COO of Maine Veterans' Homes, told Mainebiz in January.

Fournier said that studies show that those who live in long-term care centers that are more like a home than a hospital do better physically and mentally. Specific benefits include better sleep, less agitation and a higher level of comfort and self-worth. They’re also less prone to infection and other health issues.

Kash, in January, said the “hospital-model style” home that the new care center will replace has aged out, not so much because of the building itself, but because of changes in care and technology.

Kash said that while the life expectancy of a building is usually about 40 years, the technology has changed even faster, and the buildings from the 1980s don’t accommodate the needs of the 21st century.

The organization has six homes — in Augusta, Scarborough, Bangor, Machias, Caribou and South Paris. A master plan evaluation in 2014 determined that changes were needed, and would be needed in the decades to come. The Augusta home was the first to be replaced because of the age of the original residence and the availability of land in north Augusta.

Maine Veterans' Homes is a private nonprofit organization, headquartered at 460 Civic Center Drive in Augusta, about a mile from the new care site.

In addition to Kash, an April 18 groundbreaking event featured comments by Gov. Janet Mills and the state’s congressional delegation, as well as U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie, whose department contributed $49 million toward the project