Synagogue may add assisted living

Center would be built in Lauderhill

A Lauderhill synagogue is planning to develop a 127-room assisted living facility on its site.

If the City Commission signs off on the request, it would clear the way for construction on the 3-acre site next to Synagogue of Inverrary - Chabad, 6700 NW 44th St. While the project is scheduled to go before the City Commission on April 30, officials said it is expected to be deferred until May.

The proposed 110,000-square-foot facility, called Aishel House, would offer residents kosher food and access to the synagogue, as well as 38 rooms designed for seniors with Alzheimer’s disease and other memory and cognitive disorders.

There are not many assisted living services available for seniors with Jewish dietary restrictions. The nearest Orthodox kosher assisted living facility is in MiamiDade County, said Rabbi Levi Chanowitz.

“We do believe we would be filling a niche,” he said. “This would be unique in the fact it would be integrated with the shul next door and intergenerational programs between seniors and preschool, which we currently have. Studies have shown that enhances the life of the seniors.”

The center, for age 55 and older, would be operated by MJM Associates, an assisted living operator with projects in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and Tennessee.

Officials wrote in their application that it will be comparable to an apartment building — except there will be no children or loud noise, and no one drives.

The project has been in the works since the 1990s. Commissioners in 2000 agreed to allow a special exception for the land for a 100-room assisted living facility, according to city documents. The density was approved to 127 rooms in 2006. But Chanowitz said the plan was delayed because of the recession.

He estimates the facility could generate at least $200,000 a year in taxes to the city coffers.