Elder-care facilities heading to Port Royal, Okatie (and one will have a happy hour)

An Ohio-based health care company is bringing two new rehabilitation communities to Beaufort County, joining a host of other elder-care offerings north and south of the Broad River.

Sprenger Health Care broke ground in April on a new senior living campus in Port Royal, on Richmond Avenue near 16th Street, containing 65 skilled nursing beds and 45 assisted-living beds. It should open by spring 2017.

The company is also proposing a 78,000-square-foot community in McGarveys Corner in Okatie, behind the Food Lion. Sprenger is looking at a similar format as its Port Royal facility, with the same split of 110 beds, but it is still working through the design process.

While the Okatie building will be just down the street from another living community, NHC Bluffton, Sprenger spokeswoman Amy Sanfilippo said they will not be in direct competition because Sprenger is focused on short-term rehab. Most residents would come to Sprenger after an injury, surgery or illness and then return to their homes when they’re stronger.

NHC Bluffton has far more long-term units in its 120-bed facility on Okatie Highway and is building another 75-bed assisted living home with a memory care wing that will open in October.

The Port Royal facility is also one of two new elder care buildings coming to northern Beaufort County. Meridian Senior Living is opening the Retreat at Lady’s Island, an 88-bed assisted living facility with 16 memory care units, at 93 Sea Island Parkway later this year.

Sanfilippo said there will be some opportunities for longer stays at Sprenger, and it can accommodate people who wish to stay in an assisted-living units while their spouse is in the nursing section of the building.

Each facility will also feature a chapel, a sundry store and a bar.

“We have bars in all our facilities for the residents,” she said. “They do happy hour.”

Sanfilippo said the owners had been eying Beaufort County for about two years, primarily because of its aging demographic. They also commissioned a few local marketing studies to determine whether they should offer more nursing beds than assisted living.

“Plus, the owners just absolutely love the area, and they’d love to retire there one day,” she said.

This story was originally published July 15, 2016 at 4:38 PM with the headline "Elder-care facilities heading to Port Royal, Okatie (and one will have a happy hour)."