Legacy renters see new apartments

Renters of apartments at Lutheran Social Services Legacy Living Center, the remodeled old hospital in Jamestown, got a preview of their new homes Friday. The facility includes 51 apartments with 20 eligible for income assistance programs and 30 charging a market based rent.

Construction work is continuing with apartment tenants expected to be able to move in sometime in February. The project gutted most of the building and converted it from hospital rooms and nurses stations to apartments, along with a space for the James River Senior and Community Center.

The preview gave those who had already signed up for an apartment a chance to view what will become their new homes. It also gave those who were thinking about moving to Legacy Living a chance to look over the options.

“I’m looking forward to the move,” said Betty Widmer of Jamestown. “I think I’ll like the quietness and coziness of this place. The senior center in the building will be a help.”

Widmer currently lives in an apartment in Jamestown. Along with her on the tour were several members of her family that helped out by taking measurements and planning for furniture placement.

Violet Shardin will move from an apartment in Jud to Legacy Center when it opens.

“I look forward to it,” she said. “It is closer to medical facilities and there will be more to do with more people moving around.”

Shardin said she didn’t drive much any longer and planned on using the James River Transit buses to get around town as well.

Lisa Richmond, project planner for Lutheran Social Services Legacy Living apartments, said all of the income-assisted living units had been rented. The organization continues to recruit tenants for the market-based rental units that are also part of the project.

One of the premier units is known as the penthouse, according to Dick Hall, board member of Lutheran Social Services Housing.

“This was the old board room of the hospital,” he said, standing in the fifth-floor space. “They gutted everything and came up with a design with views out both sides of the building.”

Hall has the honor of being the first baby born in the old hospital in the 1930s and later worked in the building for 42 years. He retired as the chief executive officer of the hospital in 2001.

The penthouse has direct elevator access and is the only residence on the fifth floor. It also will feature an outdoor patio on the roof of one of the lower wings of the building.

Hall said all of the apartments had unique designs and utilized the space of multiple rooms in the original hospital floor plan.

“It is great to see an old building utilized for such an exciting new purpose,” he said.

Sun reporter Keith Norman can be reached at 701-952-8452 or by email at knorman@jamestownsun.com

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