By Mike Steely
steelym@knoxfocus.com
About 100 people attended the groundbreaking last Tuesday for the new Morning Pointe Assisted Living and Memory Care Center on Westland Drive near the Pellissippi Parkway. The West Knox County facility began Phase One of the project and is the fifth such facility by the company in East Tennessee.
Construction on the 18-acre site will bring 200 jobs and, when completed, the center will employ 125 healthcare staff when it opens in the fall of 2018.
Co-founders Franklin Farrow and Greg A. Vital welcomed guests and described the expanding company’s 28 facilities in five southeastern states. The Morning Pointe facility will be a one-story building of 58,000 square feet with 80 assisted living apartments with various floor plans. Later, in Phase 2, a separate Lantern at Morning Pointe Alzheimer’s Center of Excellence will feature 60 apartments.
Morning Pointe currently has nearby locations in Clinton, Lenoir City and in Powell near the Tennova Hospital.
Also speaking during the groundbreaking were Patricia Robledo, Business Support Liaison for Knoxville’s Mayor Madeline Rogero; Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett; Mark Field, senior vice president of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce; and Janice Wade-Whitehead, executive director of Alzheimer’s Tennessee.
“Everyday 10,000 people turn 65,” Vital told the crowd. He went on to say that Morning Pointe Centers are “almost as important to the families as to the residents.”
The center will feature physical and occupational therapies, life enrichment programming and Alzheimer’s memory care services. Residents will enjoy premier amenities, fine dining with local, farm-fresh ingredients and the highest quality of care.
The Morning Pointe Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the company, was founded in 2014 and connects educational and wellness initiatives, creates community partnerships and supports caregivers in its mission to advance the care of seniors.
The new Morning Point Assisted Living and Memory Care location is adjacent to Shoreline Community Church. Anyone wanting more information may contact Amy Clark, Corporate Communications Director for Independent Healthcare Properties, LLC, at (423) 208-9684.
Additional information is available online at www.morningpointe.com.
