LIHU’E – With monthly rent for apartments ranging from $1,935 to $2,935, or higher for a second person in each unit, phase one of Regency Pacific, Inc.’s Regency at Puakea in Puhi won’t be for all Kaua’i senior citizens.
But when calculations are made about what the rental fee covers, including all utilities except telephone, one to three meals a day, access to wellness and activity programs, weekly housekeeping and linen service, 24-hour staffing, security, van transportation, pool and spa, and other amenities, it might not end up being such a bad deal after all.
Billed as Kaua’i’s first full-service retirement facility offering options for independent living and assisted living, Regency at Puakea got its public unveiling before a crowd of around 60 people at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall lobby here Wednesday night.
When Regency representatives started talking about apartment monthly rental rates (add $400 to each figure if a second person is going to occupy the unit), and talked about fee-simple homes of 1,200 to 1,600 square feet in phase two of the project going for between $300,000 and $400,000, many people in the audience shook their heads as if to say this is way out of their league.
“This project is not for local people,” said one Filipino lady, before she left the hall said most of the elderly people she knows will not be able to afford to live at this Regency project.
The 82-unit apartment complex will be essentially two long, two-story buildings near the Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School in Puhi, with studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments.
The studio and one-bedroom units will each have one bathroom, and the two-bedroom units will have one and a half baths.
A Kaua’i government health-care professional looked at some of the floor plans showing long walks through several rooms to get from the bedroom to the bathroom, and said there would be nighttime accidents because of the layouts.
A third building on the 5.6-acre site will include a restaurant including casual and elegant dining options, an ice cream parlor and coffee lounge, pool and spa, beauty salon and barber shop, arts and crafts center, wellness center, library, exercise and recreation room, and more.
The units, offered only as rentals and only on a month-to-month basis, include lanais, kitchens or kitchenettes, Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility throughout, in-room emergency response systems monitored 24 hours a day, accessible van transportation either scheduled regularly or tailored to order, and full recreational, wellness, therapy and social services programs.
The apartments will have between 351 square feet (studio) and 824 square feet (two-bedroom) of living space, including the lanais.
“We believe in a total holistic approach to wellness,” said Glenn Kaser, Regency Pacific’s vice president of development. Programs will be designed to meet spiritual, mental alertness, medical and other needs of residents.
Where assisted living is concerned, the emphasis is more social than medical, with residents doing most if not all routine daily activities themselves.
Kaser said after Hurricane ‘Iniki Regency sent out some 12,000 surveys to Kaua’i residents about a rental apartment project for senior citizens, and around 1,300 people responded.
Nearly all of those who responded said a centrally located facility would be best, so Regency bought the 5.6-acre parcel from Grove Farm.
Regency has an option to buy around 15 adjacent acres that include the former Kauai Nursery & Landscaping site, with many mature palm trees, and that is where the fee-simple home community for seniors is planned.
At least one of the residents in each of the fee-simple homes must be at least 55 years of age. The homes will include single-family and duplex models, and will be two-bedroom, two-bath layouts. The for-sale homes project is at least one year away from beginning.
Kaser said Regency is around two-thirds of the way through governmental permitting processes for Regency at Puakea the apartments, and plans to break ground near the end of June or in early July.
With a 10-to-11-month construction schedule mapped out by general contractor Shioi Construction, Inc., the apartments could be ready for occupancy by late spring next year, he said.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
