38 on waiting list for 60-room Ashton Manor

Assisted living center breaks ground in Ashton Plantation

Courtesy Photo

Ashton Manor is scheduled to be completed in September 2012.

Officials finally broke ground on an assisted living center that has been in the works for several years. The center, which will be called Ashton Manor, will be built in Luling’s Ashton Plantation on six acres of land owned by St. Charles Parish Hospital.

D.C. Schonberg and Associates of New Orleans will build and run the facility.

The center will have 60 units and construction should cost between $8 million and $10 million. So far,  38 people are on the waiting list to live at the assisted living facility. Those wanting to add their name or the name of a family member to the waiting list can do so by calling Caroline Slaton at (985)785-3644.

Stuart Coleman, operations manager for D.C. Schonberg and Associates, said that the site does allow for future expansion.

Fred Martinez, CEO of the hospital, said that the assisted living center has generated  more interest than any of the other projects the hospital has in the works now.

“Everywhere I go people ask me about the center and want to know how soon it will open,” Martinez said.

In addition to new people moving to the facility from their homes, Martinez said he thinks people will transfer to the local facility from centers in other parishes.

Coleman said that Ashton Manor should be completed by September 2012 if everything goes as planned.

“I think everybody in the parish is excited about it and we are too,” he said.

David Schonberg, owner of D.C. Schonberg and Associates, said that he believes Ashton Manor will be one of the nicest assisted living facilities in the state.

“We’ve been really well received by the parish and there is lots of community interest,” he said. “The hospital has been a huge, huge help in this whole process.”

In 2002, the parish decided to include an assisted living facility in plans for improving the area’s health sector. The facility is meant to house elderly residents who aren’t quite ready for nursing homes but still need care.

The hospital was originally going to build the facility themselves on the $1 million piece of land, but financing fell through before the project could begin.

The location was selected because it is near the interstate and only six blocks away from the hospital.

Lifestyles Editor Michelle Stuckey contributed to this report.