Industry: Senior Living
Challenge: Renovating an occupied senior living community safely and on schedule, with minimal disruptions to daily routines of staff and residents.
Results: By coordinating closely with community staff, scheduling disruptive work appropriately, securing construction zones, and adapting the original phasing plan as the project evolved, the renovation was completed without sacrificing the needs of residents and staff.
Rush Commercial Construction, Inc. completed a recent renovation at Merrill Gardens at Tukwila which involved improvements to the ground level of an existing seven-story, 134-unit assisted living community. The project included reconfiguring amenity spaces, installing new plumbing systems and interior doors, creating a new Wellness Center, and constructing a standalone maintenance room.
Renovating an occupied senior living community requires more than completing the work safely and on schedule. It requires careful planning around the people who live and work in the building every day.
For Pillar Properties, protecting residents and maintaining day-to-day operations were critical priorities.
Zach Lunden, Development Manager for Pillar Properties, explained:
“Safety of our residents and the potential impact of construction on community operations is always a big point of focus for our renovation projects. This project involved renovations to spaces that were used for physical therapy in a community that has a lot of high acuity residents, which only added to the concerns about this project’s impact.”
Rush approached the project with the understanding that construction activities had to work around the community, not the other way around.
From the beginning, Rush emphasized communication and pre-planning with the Pillar Properties team and community staff. Before each phase of construction began, the project team coordinated upcoming activities, identified potential inconveniences and safety concerns, and worked with staff to determine how construction could best fit into the community’s daily operations.
Regular coordination meetings provided an opportunity to review the upcoming schedule, address concerns and make adjustments before work began.
Quinn Zorich, Project Manager for Rush Commercial Construction, said:
“We put a lot of emphasis on communication and pre-planning with staff, allowing them to coordinate and adjust their operations. This collaborative approach was key to ensure alignment between all parties.”
Rush also scheduled noisy construction activities during daytime hours to avoid disturbing residents during rest periods. This allowed the team to maintain productivity while being mindful of the community’s daily routines.
Lunden noted the importance of that flexibility:
"Rush's on-site team did a great job working with our operations team, keeping them appraised of upcoming work and impacts. Rush's ability to be flexible to accommodate our communities' operations was critical in making this project go as smoothly as it did."
To minimize disruption and maintain an efficient workflow, Rush initially developed a three-phase construction plan, allowing work to progress through defined areas while limiting the impact on residents and staff.
Phase 1: Activity Room
The first phase focused on the Activity Room. To reduce construction traffic through the existing hallways, Rush replaced a section of storefront with a temporary door that could be used for material movement.
This created a more controlled route for construction traffic while keeping resident circulation areas as clear as possible.
At the same time, Rush began preparations for the next phase so that work could progress efficiently without unnecessary downtime between areas.
Phase 2: Maintenance Office
The second phase focused on construction of the new maintenance office.
Rush coordinated the exterior siding work associated with this phase with the exterior infill required for the Wellness space in the following phase. Overlapping compatible work helped streamline the overall schedule and reduce unnecessary disruption.
Phase 3: Wellness Space
The final phase focused on the interior of the new Wellness space, including work adjacent to areas that remained part of the active community.
As the project progressed, however, Rush and Pillar Properties recognized an opportunity to improve upon the original phasing plan.
As explained by Zorich:
“The main goal for the phased construction approach was to ensure residents received the care they needed throughout construction. Originally, we had 3 different phases (completing one area at a time before moving to the next phase), but after reviewing with the Owner, residents, and facilities group, we were able to get started more quickly on the addition of the maintenance office. That allowed us to reduce the number of phases, shorten the duration of the build, and identify unforeseen conditions quicker than anticipated.”
The result was a more efficient construction sequence that maintained the project’s primary objective: supporting residents and staff while keeping the community operational.
Safety and containment were priorities throughout the renovation.
Rush secured construction areas, including hallways, sidewalks and parking areas, with construction barriers to restrict access and contain dust and debris. Signage helped direct residents and staff safely around affected areas.
Particular attention was given to work adjacent to the Wellness Room, including infilling openings and installing a new wall and door. Construction barriers restricted these areas to authorized personnel while work was underway.
The Rush team also maintained a daily cleaning routine to prevent construction dust and debris from spreading into occupied areas. Air scrubbers were deployed to filter construction debris from the air and help maintain a safe environment for residents and staff.
These measures allowed construction to proceed while limiting the physical and operational impact on the active community.
Occupied renovations often reveal existing conditions that cannot be fully anticipated before demolition. The Merrill Gardens renovation was no exception.
During construction, the team discovered an unexpected drain line within a wall scheduled for demolition. Relocating the drain required a 15-foot-long trench to be removed from a 30-inch-thick mat slab so the drain could be reconnected.
Rush responded by coordinating the required change while keeping the impact to the owner’s cost and schedule as limited as possible. As stated by Lunden:
"Rush’s team did a great job of taking the change in stride and minimizing the impact on Ownership both in cost and schedule.”
The experience reinforced the value of having a project team that could communicate quickly, adapt to existing conditions and keep the project moving.
The completed improvements created additional functional space within the community, including a new Wellness room and maintenance office, while refreshing and improving the Activity Room.
The new Wellness space provided an improved environment for resident care, while the maintenance office created dedicated space to better support the facilities team. The Activity Room was refreshed with new finishes and reconfigured to make the space more functional.
Lunden said:
“The early feedback has been great. This renovation has opened up new space in the community that was tight on space for both wellness and other activity spaces.”
For Rush, the goal extended beyond simply completing the construction, as noted by Zorich:
“Our goal was for the added space to help improve morale with the staff and residents, while providing efficiency to the overall operation of the building.”
The Merrill Gardens at Tukwila renovation demonstrates how thoughtful preconstruction planning, phased execution, communication and flexibility can help minimize disruption during construction in an occupied senior living environment.
By coordinating closely with community staff, scheduling disruptive work appropriately, securing construction zones, controlling dust and debris, and adapting the original phasing plan as the project evolved, Rush was able to complete the renovation while supporting the ongoing needs of residents and staff.
The project also strengthened an existing relationship between Rush and Pillar Properties.
Lunden concluded:
“We have worked with the Rush team before and knew they were aligned with our team in general, and this Tukwila renovation just reinforced what a good partner they are. Their ability to pull from a subcontractor base that is used to working in an active healthcare setting and still have the focus on budget and schedule adherence that makes these projects successful is key. We hope to partner with Rush on many more projects like this in the future.”
Learn more about the Merrill Gardens at Tukwila remodel here.
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