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October 20th, 2021
Richmond, B.C. — Optima Living is pleased to announce the opening of Wisteria Place, a newly constructed Independent Living residence in the heart of Steveston, bringing 107 suites of high-quality seniors’ housing to the local community.
Wisteria Place is located at 4388 Garry Street, minutes away from the historic waterfront and integrated into a local community that includes the nearby community centre, local shops and amenities, and the neighbouring Steveston Buddhist Temple.
The Steveston Buddhist Temple (SBT) was a key partner for Optima Living in making the seniors’ community a reality, along with the project’s construction lead TL Housing Solutions. As well as retaining ownership of the land, SBT spearheaded the project and established it as a separate non-profit housing society, the Wisteria Senior Health and Housing Society.
Optima Living, as the operator of Wisteria Place, is currently engaged in the activity closest to our heart — welcoming residents to their new home.
As a company, we are passionate about bringing this human, empathetic touch to the care we provide, and dedicated to the unique, inclusive culture we create in each community we operate.
“We want our residents to experience what it means to live in harmony — both with each other, and within themselves,” says Karim Kassam, Co-Founder and Principal of Optima Living.
“With Wisteria Place now open, we’re excited to get to know our first residents, and to see them welcoming new residents in turn.”
Wisteria Place offers amenities including top-flight dining options, culturally-inspired menus, salon and spa, integrated support services, and thoughtfully-designed spaces for programming and social connection. Built around a large central courtyard that offers a gathering space with a koi pond and garden, the seniors’ residence consists of a four-storey design with a mix of studio and one-bedroom suites.
Construction was supported by $5 million in funding from BC Housing’s Investment in Housing Innovation Fund, and completed earlier this year by Vancouver-based builder and developer TL Housing Solutions, incorporating features such as state-of-the-art security, keyless entry, and fall prevention.
The desire to create a better future, one where people of all cultures live in harmony, is at the heart of Wisteria Place, according to the vision statement of the Wisteria Place Senior Health and Housing Society (WSHHS). The WSHHS is led by a Board of Directors whose members, serving on a volunteer basis, hold strong ties with SBT, Steveston’s historic fishing community, and its Japanese culture heritage.
“Wisteria Place will be a welcoming home for seniors within the community and seniors at large,” said Rev. Grant Ikuta, Minister at the Steveston Buddhist Temple and an advisor to the WSHHS Board of Directors, during a recent dignitaries’ tour of Wisteria Place.
“Right now, I think there is a shortage of affordable senior housing and Wisteria [Place] will be able to fulfill those needs.”
Joining Rev. Ikuta on the dignitaries’ tour, MLA Kelly Greene (Richmond–Steveston) heralded the Grand Opening of Wisteria Place for the impact it will make in helping seniors age in the community without having to move far away from loved ones and their local community.
“We’ve all contributed to society and deserve to have that safety and support with our family and our friends — so it is really important that we have those services available when seniors are looking for them,” said Greene.
About Wisteria Place
Wisteria Place is an innovative seniors’ living community in the spectacular waterfront community of Steveston, B.C. Wisteria Place is a community our residents will be proud to call home; a safe place, where their needs are taken care of and they have the freedom to pursue their interests. At Wisteria Place, we provide activities and facilitate connections between our residents and the community, to help foster a sense of purpose. We are a community hub. We connect cultures. Some concrete ways we will create harmony is through the use of inclusive language and diverse models in our photography, planning community events, and through culturally-inspired menus and building amenities.
The Wisteria Place logo includes stylized wisteria blossoms. The three blossoms represent the three important parts of who we are: people, place and community. People are the individuals who work and live at Wisteria Place. Place includes the physical building of Wisteria Place and its proximity to the Steveston Buddhist Temple and Steveston Park. Community represents our participation in the greater community of Richmond.
Optima Living is an owner and operator of seniors’ residential communities across Western Canada, with an established reputation for both quality and care. Currently managing communities in Alberta and B.C., totaling more than 1,100 beds, Optima Living is dedicated to the seniors and families it serves. Optima Living manages its communities — ranging from Independent to Assisted Living, Long-Term Care to Dementia Care, as well as Residential Mental Health — on the belief that what sets Optima Living apart is the unique culture it creates in each. As a company, we are committed to the North Star that guides and defines us — ‘Let us welcome you home.’
To learn more, visit www.optimaliving.ca
For more information:
Optima Living: Alyssa Barry, Communications Coordinator — (778) 636-6029 — [email protected]
300–55 Water Street
Vancouver, BC
T5J 3E9
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this release are forward-looking in nature. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or are not statements of historical fact should be viewed as “forward-looking statements”. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Optima Living to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements including, without limitation, risks relating to the failure of the parties to satisfy, in a timely manner, the conditions to the closing of the transaction.
There can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could vary or differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements contained in this release. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.
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