Twenty-five Point Reyes Station seniors will have to move out of their apartments at Walnut Place for weeks or months while renovations to the facility are undertaken next year, according to plans laid out during a meeting last week by the building’s nonprofit owner, EAH Housing.
Tucked in a corner of downtown Point Reyes Station, Walnut Place lies within a convenient walking distance for elderly residents to reach a grocery store, pharmacy, bank, restaurants and the community hub of the neighboring Dance Palace. Now, with the impending move weighing heavily on the minds of many residents, fears have arisen that the stress of relocating might harm the mental and physical health of the more frail among them.
“I was seeing a lot of grief-stricken faces and devastation,” Peggy Day, a retired nurse who moved into Walnut Place last May, said of the meeting. “Just thinking about packing up your belongings is daunting.”
Meanwhile, other residents have hailed the upcoming renovation. “I think it’s wonderful,” said Joan Ingram, who has lived at Walnut Place for the last two years. “It’s nice of them to improve things for us. They’re taking charge of all the changes, and they’re saying they will do everything to avoid giving us problems.”
Built in 1986 on the outskirts of downtown, Walnut Place has incurred a number of structural deficiencies, most notably wear and tear to exterior siding, caused by termites.
Renovations now rather than later will keep the building structurally sound for at least another 30 years, said Lynn Berard, the senior project manager leading the renovation process. They also come with a 55-year extension of an agreement between EAH and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development—which subsidizes Walnut Place—to keep the property for affordable housing for seniors and disabled people.
Details of the relocation have not been finalized, but a notice sent to residents in mid-November said apartments will be worked on in groups of four to six at a time, starting in June. Move-outs will be staggered and residents will be returned to their apartments while construction, predicted to last six to eight months, remains underway.
“This will be a construction zone,” Ms. Berard said. “We’ll do our best to mitigate that as much as possible, but, yes, the people still in the building will be exposed to noise and dust and dirt and things that come with a construction zone.”
She added that EAH has hired two relocation consultants to help address the concerns and stress that residents may experience during the move.
A new, full-time resource coordinator has also been hired to assist residents’ needs alongside Walnut Place’s current manager, George McCann, who declined to speak with the Light about the
renovation.
EAH has not decided where residents will go, but Ms. Berard and the relocation consultants raised the possibility at last week’s meeting that they may be able to move into temporary trailers set up somewhere in town.
What is certain is that residents will have to continue paying their federally subsidized rent and utility bills, though EAH has promised to cover any extra PG&E charges accrued during
construction.
The nonprofit has also reassured residents that professional movers would be provided to pack up personal belongings and transport them to storage facilities, which EAH would pay for.
Ms. Berard said the fears felt by many of Walnut Place’s tenants were not unlike reactions she’s seen to other renovations overseen by EAH, which manages around 90 properties in California and Hawaii. “It’s very normal,” she said. “That’s why we try to work really closely with the residents, with multiple resources, to help them through.”
Among the many potential renovations to be undertaken by EAH’s general contractor, Petaluma-based Midstate Construction Corporation, is an expansion of the front of the building to create a larger gathering space; the construction of a covered porch, laundry room, computer room and lounge with a kitchenette; an expansion of the manager’s apartment; the replacement of exterior siding and roofing; seismic upgrades; a new layout for the backyard garden; the construction of a bicycle shed; an upgrade to the elevator; and the relocation of the trash receptacle.
Individual apartments may also receive new flooring, appliances, cabinets, sinks, lights and paint.
“Yeah, the building needs it,” said Arnie Lepisto, who has been the maintenance manager at Walnut Place for 15 years. “It will buy it another 30 or 40 years.”
Since funding for what Ms. Berard estimated would be a $2.4 million project has not been fully settled, the specifics of the renovation remain subject to change.
She said EAH has already received $180,000 in the form of a Marin County Community Development Block Grant, and is seeking to finance the rest of the project through federal tax credits and tax-exempt bond loans.
Despite reassurances that the renovation will be in the best interest of everyone, some residents wonder whether their concerns are being downplayed. Ms. Day cautioned that relocation stress—what’s also known as transfer trauma— can sometimes result in death.
“I would admit [patients] and the next day I’d come back and they had died,” Ms. Day said. “They’d been transferred from one nursing home to the other.”
Other residents agree, saying that not only will the move be a burden, but so too will be the ongoing construction residents will face upon their return.
“It’s a pretty serious thing to do to seniors and disabled people,” said Carol Dreyer, a six-year tenant. “And it’s not just us moving our stuff out. It’s the construction that will be going on.”
Another resident, Kathy Hart, said each person at Walnut Place will experience varying degrees of difficulty, depending on how long they’ve lived there and how many belongings they own. She guessed that the move would be harder for residents who do not have family nearby and who do not have a clear idea about where they will go.
Still, Ms. Hart viewed the renovation plan as an unfortunate, albeit ultimately beneficial, disruption that will leave Walnut Place a better home.
“My only concern right now is, Where am I going to go?” said Ms. Hart, who has lived at Walnut Place since 2012. “I’ve got six months. I’m going to be saving money like crazy. Maybe this would be a good time to go to Thailand and get my teeth fixed!”