North Campus Project Announcement
Starting with our Strategic Planning Session of 2014, Missouri Slope identified the need to have more private rooms, better parking, and additional services that the community desperately needs such as Child Day Care. Our existing campus has been operating for 50+ years and is in need of many upgrades/updating to remain attractive and competitive for the next 50+ years. We want to “Re-Invent” the existing campus which would require major remodeling. Since our community has such full occupancy and increasing demand, we felt it would be unwise to temporarily take hundreds of beds out of service in order to achieve the extensive remodel. In order to achieve our dreams and keep services running in the community, we would need to build a second campus.
In 2017, Missouri Slope acquired an 18 acre property in North Bismarck known as the Good Shepherd North Addition. A 16,000 square foot building was erected on the property in 2005 by Good Shepherd Lutheran Church of Bismarck for use as a family and day care center. Changing economics forced the dismissal of Good Shepherd’s dream for their North Addition and they had to sell the property. Ten years later, the property was still looking for an owner to develop the property in a way that fits the neighborhood’s and greater community’s needs. Missouri Slope was able to connect with the City Planning and Zoning Commission, the City Council, and the neighbors of the property to discuss plans for a future healthcare campus. All parties were very receptive to the idea and wanted to see the process move forward.
In October, 2017, the Missouri Slope Governing Board and Leadership teams interviewed and selected the firms of Roers Construction and Pope Architects for the project. Early project milestones include the completion of a Market Analysis that shows an increasing demand for Senior Healthcare Services such as Skilled Nursing, Basic Care, Memory Care, Assisted Living, and Independent Living. We have also signed a contract to complete a feasibility study on our existing campus. We feel that both sites will be needed to meet the needs of our community and the planning should be done together.
Next steps for the project will be establishing a timeline to include stakeholder meetings with our employees, our residents/tenants, our corporate church members, the neighborhood, and other interested parties. We are in the process of running financial projections that will help us learn how much fundraising will be necessary for the project. We intend to update this site as new information is available. Please be sure to check back often and feel free to send us your questions, comments, and suggestions via the upcoming stakeholder meetings.
Finally, we ask you to consider us in your thoughts and prayers. Just as members of this community did over 50 years ago when Missouri Slope was created, we will need all the help we can get. This project is very much a call and testament to our mission of Enriching Life and meeting the needs of our community. God bless you!