BRUNSWICK

Plans for another assisted living facility at Brunswick Landing have taken the first step forward.

The Brunswick Planning Board on Tuesday unanimously approved a sketch plan for the 45,000-square-foot Avita assisted facility on two lots totaling almost 14 acres on Admiral Fitch Avenue.

Developer Sandy River mostly works in senior and long-term care, but it was also the original developer of the Topsham Fair Mall. The company no longer operates care facilities, but is partnering with Northbridge Companies to operate the facility.

Northbridge currently operates eight facilities, mostly in Massachusetts, but also operates a facility in New Hampshire as well as Avita of Stroudwater in Westbrook.

Sandy River is concurrently developing another Avita facility in Wells.

The Brunswick Landing facility will consist of 60 units in three sections, housing 70 residents. It will primarily be a private facility.

“We deal with a broad spectrum of patients with memory loss,” said Daniel Maguire, managing partner with Sandy River.

The grounds will include landscaped courtyards and outdoor therapy gardens, according to Maguire.

“Just being connected to the outdoors is really important to our residents,” he told the planning board.

“We’ve done some market research, and we’ve determined that the demographics here are growing,” said Maguire in an interview, explaining why the town of Brunswick was chosen for the facility. “We believe that there is a demand for additional memory care services in the Mid-coast area.”

Brunswick Landing was chosen, Maguire said, because it offered enough land to support the facility with easy access to communities including Bath, Woolwich and Harpswell.

“I believe in the Navy base being con- verted and redeveloped. If we look 10 years from now, we’re going to be quite amazed at what has happened out there.”

This may be the second assisted living facility to open at Brunswick Landing this year. Residents of the 45-bed Skolfield on Cumberland Street will be relocated this summer at the former military base on the site of what had been a hotel operated by the Navy for visiting personnel. Coastal Landing, operated by Rousseau Management, is slated to open in July or August.

Avita will keep patients busy and stimulated with programs and activities while affording them the “freedom to be who they are,” said Maguire.

About 70 percent of memory loss patients are afflicted with Alzheimer’s, in addition to those who are suffering from Parkinson’s Disease and the affects of stroke.

Landscape architect William Conroy of Sebago Technics noted that the Avita facility will be built on land that was used for military housing that has since been removed.

The planning board may give final approval for the project by June, and Maine Department of Environmental Protection will have to issue a storm water permit.

The goal is to break ground in late summer or early fall.

The facility will be serviced by Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority’s private water, sewer and storm water system.

The board on March 3 approved an expansion to MRRA’s Common Development Plan, which would encompass the new facility.

jswinconeck@timesrecord.com

Number one

THIS MAY BE THE second assisted living facility to open at Brunswick Landing this year. Residents of the 45-bed Skolfield on Cumberland Street will be relocated this summer at the former military base on the site of what had been a hotel operated by the Navy. Coastal Landing, operated by Rousseau Management, is slated to open in July or August.

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