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Cornwall Manor names new president and CEO

Lee A. Stickler has retired as president and CEO of Cornwall Manor and Harry A. McConnell, has been appointed as his successor. PHOTO/PROVIDED

With the retirement of Lee A. Strickler, Harry A. McConnell took over those leadership roles effective Oct. 3.

The seventh president and CEO of the 585-resident faith-based not-for-profit continuing care retirement community, which is in Cornwall borough, McConnell was most recently executive director of Normandy Farm Estates, a faith-based not-for-profit retirement community in Blue Bell. He also spent 25 years with Peter Becker Community in Harleysville, where he was promoted up to chief operating officer.

In addition, McConnell has been an adjunct professor at Gwynedd-Mercy College since 2004. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and an MBA, and is a licensed nursing home administrator.

“We are confident with the appointment of Harry McConnell as Lee Stickler’s successor,” Timothy D. Sheffey, chairperson of Cornwall Manor’s board of trustees, said in a release. “Harry has a proven track record of strong leadership and effective management skills, has great energy and outstanding operational results which will be critical strengths as he leads the community in the years to come.”

He continued: “Since we opened our doors 73 years ago, Cornwall Manor has been recognized for providing high-quality care and services to more than 2,500 residents. Lee has done a fantastic job helping create our strategic growth as well as spearheading many financial and operational successes, including the most challenging years we have experienced to date due to the COVID pandemic.”

Paula Wolf is a freelance writer

Marcus & Millichap sells 188-unit Palmyra housing community 

Shadow Stone Village in Palmyra was sold for $18 million. PHOTO/PROVIDED

Real estate brokerage firm Marcus & Millichap completed the sale of a 188-unit manufactured housing community in Palmyra for $18 million. 

The firm announced on Tuesday that it sold Shadow Stone Village, a community of homes for adults 55 and over, to Utah-based Shadowstone MHC Holdings LLC. 

Shadow Stone Village is located at 50 W. Spruce St. in Palmyra.  

The community currently has 100% capacity and is near local supermarkets, restaurants, shopping malls, banks and golf courses, according to a press release from Marcus & Millichap. It features a community center, library and gym. 

The property was built in 1995 and owned by Dwight Wagner Family Limited Partnership. Glenn Esterson, founding member of the Marcus & Millichap Charlotte Uptown office’s Esterson MHC Team assisted the seller and buyer on the sale. 

“Using our team’s extensive buyer database and Marcus & Millichap’s enormous platform, we created a competitive market for this age-restricted, fully-stabilized manufactured housing community. As a result, we sourced four solid offers from highly qualified public and private buyers,” said Esterson.  

Manheim Township developer eyes plans for rental community in downtown Lancaster

A rendering of Landis Place on King by RLPS Architects. The seven story building is expected to be finished in 2022. PHOTO PROVIDED

A Lancaster County developer of 55-plus housing plans to begin construction on its second senior housing development in downtown Lancaster.

Manheim Township-based Landis Communities announced Tuesday plans to build Landis Place on King, an 82-unit rental community at 239 and 245 W. King Street in the city.

Landis Communities currently has a letter of agreement to purchase both properties, which currently house Rendezvous Steak Shop and House of Tacos.

Pending approvals from the city, the $22 million project would be seven-stories high with rents starting at about $800 a month.

“Our vision is that Landis Place on King be an integral part of the West King Street neighborhood and compliment the residents and businesses that already exist and make the neighborhood so special,” said Evon Bergey, vice president of community initiatives at Landis Communities, said in a press release.

The location is zoned for multifamily housing with a commercial component. About 2,500 square feet of the building is planned to be set aside for retail space such as a cafe or bistro.

Landis Communities operates Steeple View Lofts apartments on North Water Street as well as Landis Homes in Manheim Township.

“With the success of Steeple View Lofts, it is fantastic to see Landis Communities continuing to invest in Lancaster City,” said Marshall Snively, president of the Lancaster City Alliance. “This block of King Street is seeing great momentum and this project will not only build on this growth, but help fill the large demand for housing in Lancaster.”

Landis Place is being designed by Lancaster-based RLPS Architects. RGS Associates in Harrisburg are the land planners and engineers on the project and East Lampeter, Lancaster County-based High Construction is expected to serve as the general contractor.

Landis Communities is working with the city to receive endorsement for the demolition of the two buildings through its Historic Commission and will then seek approval through City Council.

The project is scheduled for a groundbreaking next summer, with a finish date in mid-2022.

Long term care providers reopen doors to weary families

IntegraCare’s senior homes have erected “Conversation Stations” made of plexiglass and plywood so families can come visit their love dones without the worry of giving them COVID-19. PHOTO PROVIDED –

Pennsylvania’s long term care organizations face the challenge of communicating to new residents and their families that facilities are safe to visit after closing their doors to visitors and prospective residents for months.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported on Friday that 4,345 of the state’s 6,399 total deaths from COVID-19 occurred in residents from nursing or personal care facilities.

The department’s data, along with similar reports across the country, have made an uphill battle for providers of senior care trying to continue operations after months of decreased admissions.

“The census is down in nursing homes. There are families that are simply unwilling to send their loved ones to nursing homes and frankly that makes sense” said Zachary Shamberg, CEO and president of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association. “The ramifications for this will be long lasting.”

In the midst of the crisis, skilled nursing facilities, post-acute providers, assisted living residences, personal care homes and other senior care organizations were advised by the association to keep weekly communication with families and provide up to date information on any COVID-19 cases in their buildings.

IntegraCare, an Allegheny County-based senior living organization with facilities in Lancaster and Camp Hill, temporarily halted admissions in March and kept in contact with families of their residents through emails, phone calls and letters.

“In mid-March we put a halt on all admissions until we really wrapped our brain around how we were going to take care of our team members and residents,” said Eric Walker, executive director of sales and marketing with IntegraCare. “We’ve been communicating with family members regarding why they can’t come into the community and how much longer that will last.”

IntegraCare employs 600 staff members and oversees 670 residents at nine senior homes in Pennsylvania, one in Maryland and one in Virginia.

Now that the facilities are once again welcoming new residents, Walker said that the organization’s marketing has changed dramatically to mirror the precautions IntegraCare has taken with its residents.

“When you think of initial lead generation, we initially drove people into the community,” he said. “We know that most people want to take the community for a test drive but now with no visitation we can’t do that as easily.”

IntegraCare instead offers virtual tours and outdoor tours where potential residents walk through the community and look into houses from their windows.

To ease the minds of potential residents, patients and their families and to better care for COVID positive patients, Genesis Health Care, which operates the Hamilton Arms Center in Lancaster County, opened quarantine units in each of its facilities.

The senior care provider also converted one of its buildings in Philadelphia to a COVID only facility to help hospitals discharge stable patients with the virus to begin rehabilitation.

Sylvania, Ohio-based ProMedica Senior Care, a not-for-profit organization with skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in 22 states, saw admissions drop by 60% in April, which improved to 50% in May.

ProMedica Senior Care, formerly HCR ManorCare, operates a number of post-acute and long term care facilities in the midstate including Arden Courts of Susquehanna in Harrisburg, ManorCare Health Services in Camp Hill and Lebanon and Linden Village in Lebanon.

Marty Grabijas, vice president and director of marketing with ProMedica Senior Care, said that early on in the crisis he advocated his authority to ProMedica’s clinical team.

“They decide if we can bring patients in or not because it’s all about safety,” Grabijas said, adding that ProMedica has insisted on training its admissions team to be as good as nurses when evaluating risk.

“We are very clean and very locked down and we screen everyone coming in,” he said. “By making our staff experts in referrals and admissions, they are able to talk about how clean and safe the buildings are and can convince patients that it’s better to shelter in our environment when you recover if you are a short-term or long-term patient.”

Grabijas said that a primary worry of the system is that the increased stigma against long term care due to the high rates of COVID-19 in facilities will cause patients to stay home rather than seek out post-acute care.

ProMedicare is preparing a national campaign across all of the states it operates in to communicate that its facilities never took shortcuts and patients shouldn’t either.

“Going home is taking a shortcut and we aren’t taking shortcuts in managing the virus so you shouldn’t either,” Grabijas said. “All we’ve done as an industry is manage chronic conditions. We are really good at that.”