On Thursday, the 162-acre NewBridge on the Charles site was abuzz with activity, as heavy construction machinery drove to and fro, workers rolled in supplies on dollies, and employees learned how to take orders at a kosher deli named Nosh.
Seven years in the making, the $485 million Hebrew SeniorLife housing campus is set to open Monday, when the first five families move in. The guiding philosophy behind the continuing care retirement community is nothing less than "to change the whole idea of what aging is about."
"It's really about keeping people independent, keeping people engaged, keeping people healthy, and keeping people secure," said director of marketing Ruth Stark. "It's how you get older, and how to make the end of your life filled with as much quality as possible."
Hebrew SeniorLife, a nonprofit organization founded in 1903, provides a continuum of care to more than 5,000 seniors in the Boston area. It is the only long-term care organization associated with Harvard Medical School.
When NewBridge on the Charles fully opens, 800 seniors age 62 and older will live there, and 600 people will work there. That does not include the Rashi School, which will make NewBridge a "multigenerational campus" when it opens in the fall of 2010.
The NewBridge campus, on Great Meadow Road off West Street, includes 256 independent living units for active seniors, a community center, four dining venues, tennis courts and a movie theater. The lush campus is bounded on two sides by the Charles River and includes 100 acres of open space and 1.7 miles of walking trails.
The project's builder is Suffolk Construction. Site work began in December 2006, with the formal groundbreaking in June 2007.
"The opening of NewBridge on the Charles is the culmination of seven years of work by Hebrew SeniorLife's board, donors, staff and volunteers," said Len Fishman, Hebrew Senior Life's president and CEO. "Each day our team works to change the way people think about aging, and we are confident that NewBridge will bring us one step closer to fulfilling this mission."
The first residents move into independent living homes on Monday, and Dedham Town Administrator William Keegan plans to be there to greet some of them. Fifteen more families will arrive before the end of June, Stark said.
The independent living residences include cottages, villas and apartments. Residents pay an entry fee of between $429,000 and $1.4 million for the units. When a home is vacated, the residents or their estate gets 90 percent of the fee back. Residents also pay a monthly fee of between $2,350 and $4,380 for services such as food and housekeeping.
Phase II of NewBridge is the 91 assisted living units, opening in July. They include 51 residences of traditional assisted living, and 40 for people who require "memory support."
Phase III, set to open in November, is the 268-bed health care center, including 220 long-term care beds.
Emphasizing Hebrew SeniorLife's commitment to community, Stark said it has been working to create a "virtual community" among NewBridge's residents-to-be before the campus opens.
About half of the people who will be moving in are already members of the NewBridge Network, a social networking site. There are interest groups for topics such as the library, spirituality, and food and beverages; the library group has been meeting for almost a year.
Meantime, 45 people went to the film club's first showing, held a few weeks ago at the Dedham Community Theatre, of Woody Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors."
Residents have also gone on a walking tour of Dedham Square, and met with representatives from Legacy Place, the other large-scale development opening this summer in Dedham.
The Rashi School held its cornerstone dedication ceremony this past Monday. The school will not open until 2010, but Rashi students will be coming to NewBridge for programs in the interim, Stark said.
The NewBridge campus includes many environmental initiatives, beginning with 400 geothermal wells, extending 500 feet into the earth, that will supply high-efficiency heating and cooling. Hebrew SeniorLife says the geothermal field is the largest in New England.
Stark says all the shrubs planted are drought-resistant, and that many of the materials used in the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Community Center are environmentally sustainable. The plastic cups at Nosh are even "made from corn."
"They feel very strongly about preserving the Earth for future generations," said Stark of NewBridge's seniors.
The community center, and the campus's homes, have generous natural light.
"The whole idea with all of the windows is sort of (to) bring nature in, and the colors we used are all (from) nature," she said.
That same blending of the interior with the outdoors will take place when meadow grass is replanted on both sides of the community center.
On a tour yesterday, Stark showed off the community center's large multipurpose room, fitness area, and full-length 4 1/2-foot-deep pool and spa. The center's restaurants include the formal Copper Beech Room, which looks out on an old copper beech tree that was preserved for the project.
Some things are still being readied. Tape remains on parts of the carpeted floors, and the art studios, including a woodworking shop, are still being set up.
Stark said 80 percent of NewBridge's housing has been leased. That is down from last September, when the project was about 90 percent leased.
Still, Stark said interest is increasing, with inquiries increasing recently from 50 per month to 50 per week.
"Considering how lousy the economy is, we're probably doing better than any continuing retirement care facility in the country," she said.
Daily News staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.
