Memory care facility coming to Spokane’s Southgate neighborhood

A nearly 40,000-square-foot memory care facility will be built in Spokane’s Southgate neighborhood, according to permits issued by the city.

The $9 million facility at 4515 S. Freya St. is being built by Yakima’s Cascadia Development and will be one of the company’s Fieldstone Memory Care facilities. It will be called Fieldstone Memory Care Spokane. The one-story building will be 39,432 square feet and is being built on nearly 5 acres of vacant land.

The facility will have 60 beds in 48 living units, which will be a mix of private studios, one-bedroom apartments and companion suites, Justin Younker said. Younker owns Cascadia Development, which builds the facilities, and Cascadia Senior Living, which owns and operates them with a partner, Doug Ellison. They founded Cascadia in 2013 after working for a decade on other memory care facilities.

“The building itself features a town square,” said Younkers, describing it as a realistic-looking town that is centrally located within the facility. The squares include a theater, 1950s-style diner, spa and salon, artist’s studio and sensory room. “It’s a town square that actually feels like a town square.”

The facility also will have large residential wings and long, wide hallways, offering ample walking space. Doors will lead to a secure courtyard outside.

The company currently has six memory care communities in operation and is in the midst of expanding across the Pacific Northwest. Four more facilities will be open by year’s end, and construction is beginning on four more, including in Spokane. When the expansion is complete, there will be facilities in Yakima, Portland, Kennewick, Olympia, Puyallup, Wenatchee, Issaquah and Spokane.

“We’re based in Yakima, so we’re local,” Younker said. “We’re building this out to be a regional operator.”

Pricing for the facility hasn’t been set, but is anticipated to be open in fall 2019.

The project’s general contractor is C.D. Smith Construction Services, of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Poston Architects, of Yakima, designed it.