New Lasata facility moves forward after a decade of talk

The Ozaukee County Health and Human Services Committee has recommended hiring an architectural and design firm to do pre-construction design work on a $4.5 million expansion of the Lasata Senior Living campus in Cedarburg.

The committee recommended using Dimension Design Group, which submitted a cost of $252,202 for architectural and design services.

Dimension Design scored 100 on a ranking system used by county officials, the same score as Plunkett Raysich Architects. But Plunkett Raysich’s estimated cost was nearly $100,000 more at $345,500.

“We felt they were both very good proposals but the cost difference was significant,” County Administrator Jason Dzwinel told the committee.

HHS Committee Chairman Patrick Foy and County Board Chairman Lee Schlenvogt were among the group that evaluated the applications and recommended Dimension Design.

The county has set aside $4.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to finance construction of the facility, which officials envision as an 18,000-square-foot, 24-bed facility to offer memory care and other services.

Officials said it will annually generate $150,000 to $450,000 in additional net revenue for the Lasata Senior Campus.

Dzwinel called Tuesday’s recommendation “the next phase in our long march” toward establishing a CBRF, noting county officials have discussed the project for a decade.

The campus currently includes the Lasata Care Center, a 120-bed skilled nursing facility, Lasata Crossings, a 60-unit assisted living facility, and Lasata Heights, a 60-unit building for independent seniors.

County officials have said development of a CBRF is vital to maintaining a county nursing home without it being a drain on taxpayers.

The campus loses a number of residents each year, however, because Lasata lacks a facility to provide the services that would be offered through the CBRF.

The Lasata Senior Campus is an enterprise fund meant to support itself without tax levy support and perhaps even turn a profit to pay for maintenance and to make improvements.

Without the CBRF, Dzwinel has predicted property taxes would have to be used to keep the senior campus operating.

In April, the county contracted with Altius Building Co. to be the construction manager for the project at a cost of $297,340.

The committee’s recommendation must be affirmed by the county Finance Committee when it meets in June and approved by the County Board at its July meeting, Dzwinel said.

“While the cost proposal was part of the scoring criteria, it was not the only factor in selecting architectural and engineering services, as this was not a construction bid, but a professional services contract,” Dzwinel said in a memo.

Two other firms also submitted proposals. Both scored a 90. Both bids were higher than Dimension Design’s. One was lower than Plunkett Raysich’s.

Ground is expected to be broken later this summer or in early fall, with the project to be completed next year, Dzwinel said.

Most Wisconsin counties have gotten out of the nursing home business because Medicaid, a federally funded program administered by the state for low-income residents, does not fully reimburse the counties for their costs, although Medicaid reimbursement improved dramatically in the last year.

But county officials determined years ago, when there was no skilled nursing facility in the county, that a nursing home is an important service to provide to county residents.

To offset the cost, Lasata’s business model calls for drawing more Medicare and private-pay residents to the Heights, Crossings and the proposed CBRF.

About 60% of the Care Center’s residents are Medicaid patients.

Officials estimate about half the 24 beds of the CBRF would be filled with residents from other Lasata facilities, freeing space in those buildings, while the other half would probably come from outside Lasata.

A market study conducted last year showed “significant demand” for such a facility in years to come with rooms priced between $6,000 and $6,500 a month.