Last year, about this time, the community gathered at the Maple Ridge Care Center’s activity room in Spooner for a public meeting.
Bob, from Carriage Health Care, ran the meeting taking suggestions for what the public would like to see fill the 100,000 square foot space the hospital and clinic would be vacating later that year and that had been purchased by his company.
Suggestions were made that covered everything from expanding the nursing home to getting the Veteran’s Service people and many county offices under one roof.
During the summer the hospital moved to a new location and then during the winter, the clinic moved their facility adjoining the hospital. Now the old facility has become eerily quiet with empty halls and not a soul in site. But all that is changing come February.
According to Maple Ridge Administrator, Nicole Danger, (dang-er) there are 2 new businesses that will be opening in February with one already on site since last December, plus two more coming in the spring around April.
It was Deborah Schlapper who signed up first with her Rays of Clarity Counseling Service. She’s a 15 year professional counselor providing confidential and individualized mental health counseling services and is nationally certified as a trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapist. Her hours of operation are by appointment only by calling 715-939-1266
Coming in February is National Alternatives Advanced Massage and Skin Care, owned by professional Shannon Skidmore who also has a practice in Rice Lake. Her number is 715-790-7090.
Cradle to Crayons is a new day care center owned and operated by Spooner’s Kris Strunk who has made licensed day care her career for the past 18 years. She won’t be open until the spring, but already has a list of clients for her service that will accept children from 6 weeks to 4 years of age. She prefers emails sent to cradletocrayons017@yahoo.com for information. An open house will be held the week before she opens early April.
The fifth business that will be joining the business center is still under wraps until the final arrangements are made and the only hint is that it’s a non-profit service that deals with families and children. It’s coming in the spring and Danger is excited to have them.
Maple Ridge has designs on the second floor of the old hospital by making tentative plans for a 14 bed assisted living center that will provide private rooms, a public living room, dining room, activities area and a kitchen. Three meals a day will be provided and they will be getting conditional approval from the state in April. There is a possibility that they will make this a memory care unit, but no decisions have been made yet.
The lower level will be used for in-house services for now like the maintenance department that will maintain the entire building.
Nicole points out there is still 30-40 thousand square feet of room left to rent and Carriage House is open to new ideas. Their best approach to putting together a package that works for everyone is to take a prospective renter through the space on a quick tour, then ascertain what the renter’s wants and needs are, including any of their own business regulations.
The rent for each space is $9 per square foot per year with a minimum 2 year contract. If renovations are needed, a 3 year contract is required. Contracts can lock in as long as 10 years.
Once the finished space is rented, the new business is free to do additional painting and decorating to make the space truly theirs.
There are plans to have the existing kitchen open for tenants, employees and clients and tenant’s rent will include all the utilities, internet access, cable and TV along with parking lot maintenance.
At the initial meeting, there was talk to have the scattered and some aging county service offices move into the new facility in order to make the new center a One Stop Shop, but the county has not yet responded to Maple Ridge’s invitation.
Speaking of Maple Ridge Care Center, they will be celebrating their second year anniversary this May 1 and would like everyone to know that Medicaid and Medicare rated them as a 4 star facility. The rating taking into consideration their Staffing, which received 5 stars, their Quality Measures, things like patient falls, weight loss or injuries, along with the facility which was awarded another 5 stars. Their inspection of the building Facilities came in at 3 stars, but that is changing already with the all-around remodel of the entire complex.
“This is such a beautiful building,” says Danger. “It’s a great location and we’re happy with the community’s welcome to us and enthusiastic about our plans to make the success of the Spooner Business Center a reality.”
Diane Dryden has been a feature-writer for twelve years and is the author of two novels. Order your copy of the Accidental King of Clark Street and Double or Nothing on Foster Avenue today!
[Photos by Diane Dryden]
Last Update: Feb 01, 2017 7:40 am CST
