Chinook Village celebrates quarter century
Chinook Village is celebrating a milestone birthday: 25 years.
Its location on 13 Street SE used to be the site of Hillcrest Christian College that was established some time in the 1950s. When it was amalgamated with Rocky Mountain College in Calgary the property in Medicine Hat was considered to be ideal for a seniors’ residence.
“We wanted it to be a seniors’ facility we’d be pleased to put our parents in,” said Phil Horch who was present of Chinook Village for the first 20 years.
Horch says they rented a bus and the entire board was taken on a week long trip to see other seniors’ residences in the province. That proved to be a worthwhile exercise in distilling what Chinook Village would look like and how it would operate.
The goal was a residence with lots of amenities close by. It was achieved with a doctor’s office, audiologist, beauty salon, convenience store, dining room and catering facility within the complex.
Initially Chinook Village would be for independent living only, but assisted living would be next. At the time the term “assisted living” was not well known and that made pre-sales a little complicated. It was decided units would be sold on a “life lease” basis primarily because it was not possible at that stage to meet the requirements for condominiums, said Horch.
To take over the Hillcrest Christian College property Chinook Village would need to pay $3.2 million to Rocky Mountain College.
“So we started off with a big debt,” said Horch.
To get the project off the ground financing would be required and the Royal Bank, a tenant on the property at the time, provided construction financing.
In the fall of 1991 excavation and construction was launched with 45 suites in that first phase.
“Once we started building the sales came in. By the time it was finished we were almost sold out,” said Horch.
A total of six phases were built in the next 10 years from 1992 to 2002, said Horch. Along the way other buildings on site had to be demolished and two houses were sold and moved. Other elements of the original college buildings were incorporated into the design of the new. What we now know as the Terrace Room was the college’s gymnasium. The college dining room became the residents’ dining room with an expanded kitchen.
Along the way the Royal Bank property was sold to the bank to raise funds for more development, said Horch. A total of $5 million was raised from investors who were paid interest on their investment.
“That has long since been paid off,” said Horch. “We started out with so little a lot of people were skeptical it would happen.”
Today there are about 450 residents in Chinook Village that almost fills an entire city block. The complex has 11 elevators and 11 guest rooms.
Horch believes the in-house administration has contributed to its success.
“I’ve always said being president of this place is like being a mayor of a small prairie town,” said Horch who now is a resident in Chinook Village himself.