By Bradley Zint
October 8, 2013 | 7:34 p.m.
Among the amenities at Vivante on the Coast are an indoor saltwater pool, salon, various lounges and, for the four-legged furry creatures, a dog park called Central Bark.
The first residents — about 75 — of the upscale senior living facility in Costa Mesa’s Westside are scheduled to move in Tuesday. The 7-acre campus at 1640 Monrovia Ave. has 185 units, 40 of which are designed to be “memory care” homes for people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
The community is open to residents 62 years and older, most of whom are likely to move there from nearby communities, officials said.
The developer, Santa Ana-based Nexus Cos., said the Westside location, with its proximity to Hoag Hospital, is a desirable spot for people already living in Newport Beach.
“Everybody in Newport Beach knows about this area,” Nexus President Cory Alder said during a media tour Tuesday. “They’ve owned real estate, they’ve owned businesses here. They store their cars here, their boats. People know this area very, very well, and it’s definitely underutilized.”
Alder, a longtime Newport Beach resident, mentioned the ongoing development in the Westside, where various parcels are being rebuilt with new projects. These include residential developments and, just down the street, the new Coastline Community College campus, which opened last year.
“In the next couple of years, you’re going to see a lot of things change, just like we did here,” he said.
Vivante’s three-story building stands in tall contrast to the developments around it, namely the Playport mobile home park, Southern California Edison substation, office buildings and light industrial sites.
Nexus bought the property, once used by an aerospace company, in 2005, though development stalled amid the recession, Alder said.
It’s the company’s first senior housing development. Even before its completion in January, Vivante had won various awards from the National Assn. of Home Builders, a trade group.
There are six floor plans, with studios starting at some 450 square feet and two-bedroom units at about 1,800 square feet. The one- and two-bedroom units have full kitchens.
The rooms can also be adapted to be more accessible to the handicapped, Alder said.
Monthly rents start at $4,190, or $6,000 for the memory care facility. Private suites in the memory care center cost $10,000 per month.
Rent includes three meals plus snacks daily, weekly housekeeping and linen service, a transportation service and other amenities.
“We looked at what we want and what our parents would want,” Alder said. “There’s nothing like it, that I’ve seen, in the western United States. I’ve looked at hundreds and hundreds of websites and toured lots of properties.”
Vivante is licensed for up to 299 residents; 225 to 230 are expected to take up residence there.
Other on-site amenities include the Cro’s Nest — an upstairs bar complete with balcony, dance floor and food — a private dining room, putting green, outdoor barbecues, movie theater, gym, library, artists’ studio, computer room and greenhouse.
For the younger kids or grandkids, the Fun Zone is equipped with video games and computers and decorated with photos of big-wave surfers.
The porte-cochère — Vivante’s front entrance — has a fountain and outdoor seating. Inside are dining options for residents and their guests, including the bistro, called the Social Grounds Cafe, and the formal dining room, the Melange.
Vivante is expected to employ about 180 people.