Senior Living Construction in the East and Southeast Metro
Independent living, assisted living and memory care buildings for developers and operators in Aurora, Parker, Castle Rock and the southeast metro.
Assisted living, memory care and independent living look alike from the street and differ completely behind the front door. A secured memory care wing, a dining room that serves three meals a day, resident rooms with accessible bathrooms and a med room that must be locked and ventilated all come with their own code provisions and licensing questions. We build senior communities with that complexity in mind, for operators and developers who need the building to pass its licensing review and then work for staff every day.
The east and southeast metro is a natural market. Hospitals nearby give residents a reassuring clinical neighbor: AdventHealth Parker has 179 beds and began a seven-story tower in January 2025, AdventHealth Castle Rock opened a cancer center in February 2026, and HCA HealthONE Sky Ridge Medical Center in Lone Tree has more than 300 beds. Operators site communities close to those campuses because families ask about the distance to the emergency room.
Designing for residents, staff and licensing
A senior community has three users with different needs: residents, who need safety, comfort and dignity; staff, who need efficient routes and sightlines; and the licensing agency, which reviews the building against its standards. Corridor widths, handrails, door hardware, lighting levels, bathroom layouts and call systems all serve one or more of them. We review these with the operator's design team and operations staff, because a nurse walking a hallway at night will tell you more about layout than a drawing.
Memory care adds secured doors, delayed egress, wander management systems, enclosed courtyards and visual cues. The building code allows these features under specific conditions, so the life-safety plan has to be reviewed with the building department and fire marshal early. Courtyards also require attention to surfaces, plants and sun exposure, and we coordinate those with the landscape designer so residents can use them safely.
Independent, assisted and memory care under one roof
Many operators build a continuum on one campus: independent living apartments, assisted living and memory care, plus shared dining, activity, therapy and wellness spaces. Each component has a different construction type. Independent living often resembles a multifamily building, assisted living adds care-related rooms and systems, and memory care has security features. We coordinate the different standards so they work together in one building or campus plan, using lessons from our multifamily apartment construction work.
Common areas deserve as much attention as units. Dining rooms need commercial kitchens, which bring exhaust, grease and health review. Activity rooms and theaters need acoustics and flexible layouts. Therapy gyms need floor finishes and equipment support. Our restaurant construction experience applies directly to the kitchen, and we plan service routes so that deliveries and trash do not cross resident areas.
Life safety, infection control and building while residents are nearby
Senior communities depend on strong life-safety systems: sprinklers, smoke compartments, fire alarm with voice evacuation, emergency power and clear egress. Residents may need help to evacuate, so the building is often divided into smoke compartments where people can move horizontally to safety. We verify the compartments and the doors and dampers that define them, and we test them with the fire marshal before turnover.
Additions to occupied communities require extra care. Residents with respiratory conditions or dementia are sensitive to dust, noise and unfamiliar workers. We isolate work zones, control dust, schedule noisy tasks around meals and rest, and train crews on how to interact with residents. A direct line to the community's executive director allows concerns to be solved the same day. Our approach to phased construction on occupied sites is built around that kind of coordination.
Plan review, licensing and local editions
A senior living building is reviewed by the local building department and by a state licensing agency. The two reviews can overlap, and their comments sometimes differ, so we attend design meetings with both whenever possible. Local code editions vary across the metro: the January 2026 tracker listed Parker on the 2021 IBC with 2024 adoption expected in June 2026, Castle Rock on the 2018 IBC, and Aurora on the 2021 IBC with an update expected in the 2027 cycle. We confirm the edition in force at submittal.
Energy code requirements add another layer. Colorado law requires any county or municipality that updates its building code on or after July 1, 2023 to adopt an energy code at least as stringent as the 2021 IECC, and from July 1, 2026 the benchmark becomes the state model low energy and carbon code. Senior living buildings run around the clock with high hot water use, so mechanical design deserves early review. See our Parker work for how that plays out in a growing suburban market.
Services that often accompany senior living
Operators often pair a new community with healthcare construction for an adjacent clinic or rehabilitation wing, or with renovation of an older property through our renovation and adaptive reuse practice. Others work with us on a medical office building next door, so residents and neighbors have services nearby.
For owners who are health systems, the senior community is part of a broader continuum of care. Healthcare systems may want to align construction standards across clinics and residences, and we can maintain a shared set of details and specifications. Operators of several communities benefit from the same repeatable approach, with lessons from each building applied to the next. We keep a record of what worked on corridor lighting, call systems, door hardware and kitchen layout, so the second community opens with the fixes already built in and the staff do not relearn the same quirks.
Plan a senior community
Send the site, the care mix and the licensing timeline. We will return a schedule that includes plan review and licensing steps.
Questions Owners Ask
Which parts of a senior living building take the most time?
Licensing review, kitchen and life-safety systems, and finish selection. We start the plan reviews early and order long-lead equipment as soon as the design is stable.
Can a memory care wing be added to an existing building?
Often, yes, but it needs a careful life-safety review, secured doors and a plan for residents and staff during construction. We study the existing building first and prepare options for the operator and the building department.
How is a senior community different from an apartment building?
It adds licensing, care-related rooms, more demanding life-safety systems, commercial dining and staff workflows. The construction methods may be similar, but the requirements and inspections differ.
How do you manage noise and dust around residents?
By isolating work zones, scheduling noisy tasks around meals and rest, controlling dust at the source and keeping a line open to the community's director. We also train crews on how to interact with residents.
What drives senior living cost?
Building type, amount of common space, kitchen scope and the share of care units. Memory care and assisted living cost more per square foot than independent living because of added systems.