Posted: Wed 10:42 PM, May 25, 2016

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. A vacant field on the city's south side will soon be home to a skilled care center of the future. Birch Point Health and Rehabilitation, a $17 million dollar project, is set to go up at the intersection of Primrose St. at Jefferson Avenue, across from Kickapoo High School.

Steve Stinnett, Vice President of New Development at Miller Commerce stated, "...we are excited entering into the senior housing development business."

Birch Point, which will be operated by Arkansas-based Reliance Healthcare, is being called the care facility for a new generation. Plans call for a center that looks more like a resort than a residential facility. There will be courtyards, a bistro cafe, WiFi. Living areas will be clustered into neighborhood-like sections. The center is being built on the five acres on the northeast side of the intersection on one of the last large undeveloped left in the city.

"We were very fortunate to acquire that site and Matt had a really good vision of what could go there with the proximity of Cox Hospital and Medical Mile," Stinnett said.

With hospitals and other healthcare services nearby, Birch Point is being building here on purpose. With 120 beds for short term and long-term care, the place will employ dozens of medical professionals.

Stinnett says the new project represents an industry that is showing no sign of slowing down.

"It is called the maturing of the baby boomers. It is a huge demographic that has been taking place the last five years and it will continue the next 15 to 20 years."

Ground is set to broken next month. Construction is anticipated to take 15 months.