Vancrest completes $1.5 million expansion

Also planning $5M expansion at Dayview in New Carlisle.

Vancrest Health Care Centers has finished work on a roughly $1.5 million project that has added 25 assisted living apartments to its Urbana facility, and it sees the potential to add as many as 14 more in the future.

The company has plans for a handful of other projects statewide, including one at Dayview Nursing Home in New Carlisle.

The facility recently hosted an open house to show off the new Urbana space and is waiting on final permits from the Ohio Department of Health to open the facility to prospective patients, said Jennifer Brock, administrator at the facility at 2380 U.S. 68. The upgrades are the result of looming demand for those types of facilities, she added.

“We’re taking reservations for anyone who is interested,” Brock said.

Vancrest has owned and operated the site since 2008, when it took control from Champaign County officials who had previously managed the site. Since then, Vancrest has invested close to $2 million in the site to make it more modern.

Wenco Inc., a construction firm based in New Carlisle, completed the project over about nine months. The addition to the Urbana facility included the assisted living apartments, as well as space for a lobby, office, dining and laundry facilities for residents.

Once at full capacity, the facility will also mean about 10 new jobs, including positions like cooks and cleaning staff, Brock said. Overall, the facility has about 115 full, and part-time staff.

If the additional rooms are filled, Vancrest could add as many as 14 more rooms in a separate project, for a maximum capacity of 39 rooms.

Vancrest, based in Van Wert, Ohio, has seen steady growth, Brock said. Traditionally, the company purchases existing facilities and makes improvements to better serve patients, which was the case in Champaign County.

The company purchased Dayview in New Carlisle about two years ago, said Shari Folker, administrator at that facility. Vancrest is planning a $5 million expansion at Dayview as part of a project to merge with the Belle Manor Nursing Home.

The Dayview expansion will include a rehabilitation unit, a larger assisted living unit and enough beds to house residents from Belle Manor, Folker said.

Belle Manor will eventually be donated to the city of New Carlisle after the project is complete.

Work could begin as early as this summer and is expected to take between 12 and 18 months, Folker said.

In Ada, Ohio, Vancrest is also planning to build a new $7.5 million facility.

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