The Rose of Waterloo marks anniversary of fire with open house

March 20--WATERLOO -- Greg McClenahan wants to remind people that the Rose of Waterloo grew out of ashes.

In fact, McClenahan, owner of the affordable assisted living facility at 421 Oak Ave., is commemorating a fire that swept through early-stage construction of the 64-unit, three-story complex during the night of March 14, 2007, by scheduling an open house there at 1 to 4 p.m. Monday.

The skeleton of the new three-story facility burned to the ground.

"It was a whopper of a fire," McClenahan said. "I think we had roof on, but I'm not sure there were shingles on it. There weren't any walls; it was largely framed, so it was a stack of wood."

Insurance covered most of the $2.5 million worth of damage to the structure in a building project whose cost originally was estimated at around $8 million. Twin Cities-based Evergreen Real Estate Development Corp., the ownership group over which McClenahan presides, put the final project cost at about $10.5 million.

"So, we put things back together," McClenahan said.

"We had a very rapid insurance claims process. We cleared debris down to the slab and were able to salvage much of the slab, so we didn't have to do that."

The fire actually only delayed opening of the complex for about three months, McClenahan said.

The original eight framers grew to 25 in an effort to complete the project by year's end, he said.

"We accelerated things," he said. "The framer was able to bring in double crews and things like that. Demolition wouldn't have been done any earlier than April 1 and we finished in early December. It's a testament to how quickly we were able to regroup and reconstruct the building."

The 70,000-square-foot complex is classified as a "55-plus," which means at least 80 percent of its residents are 55 years old or older.

"We can have some who are younger, on occasion, who will come in and have a need for the services we provide," McClenahan said.

"Our affordable rents complement the full range of a la carte home care services provided by the on-site, Medicare-certified home care provider," Pam Smith, executive director of the Rose Communities, said in a news release.

Gladys Rainey came to the Rose of Waterloo as administrator in October 2015, after a stint at Ridge Village in Waterloo.

She says she likes what she has seen at the Rose.

"We have a lot of excellent tenants that seem to enjoy living here," she said.

She estimated the facility has 55 residents.

"We offer an affordable housing option to our service-dependent residents that does not exist elsewhere in Waterloo," she said.

The complex currently is about 90 percent full, McClenahan said.

"Sometimes, we're 100 percent full; we have apartments available now," he said.

The public is invited to the open house, he noted.

"We're going to have the building staff, as well as the service provider staff there to take interested persons around and introduce them to the apartments, as well as the services that are provided on-site, and we're going to have some refreshments and some food," he said. "It's more to reintroduce the Rose to the community and what we provide the community and the elderly who need services."

The Rose of Waterloo is one of six similar Rose Assisted Living Facilities in Iowa, each built with federal tax credits provided by the Iowa Finance Authority. Each Rose community offers one- and two-bedroom apartments with full kitchen, bedroom and dressing area, bathroom, large storage room and free wireless Internet. Building amenities include a two-story atrium dining area, community room for family and community celebrations, a theater/chapel with seating for 50, craft and activity areas, computer room, library, beauty/barber shop, assisted bathing room and laundry areas.

Other Rose facilities are in Ames, Des Moines, East Des Moines, Dubuque and Council Bluffs.

For more information, contact Rainey at 232-6061, ext. 10 or [email protected] or go to www.evergreenredc.com.

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