This article originally appeared on La Jolla Light.
• BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:
Murfey Construction, known for state-of-the-art custom-built homes, remodels and commercial buildings, is now focusing on constructing a residence for people with special needs. The Murfey team — brothers Scott and Russell — will build Noah Homes, two 5,000-square-foot residences designed for people with disabilities on an 11-acre campus in Spring Valley.
The Murfeys recently broke ground for the project and construction will start in June. When finished, the project will be home to 70 people with Down Syndrome and cerebral palsy and a support staff of 70.
While there has been a home for people with special needs on the property since 1983, the Noah Homes will also provide a residence for people with Alzheimer’s. This will be the first time in California that an assisted-living home for people with special needs will include people with Alzheimer’s.
“People with Down Syndrome have a 95-percent chance of developing Alzheimer’s,” Scott Murfey said. “In the past, that meant people with Down Syndrome had to leave the home where they’ve been cared for a long time and move to an Alzheimer’s facility where the staff may not know how to attend to their particular needs, and then their life expectancy changes.”
Noah Homes will allow people with Down Syndrome, who have lived there a long time, to continue being cared for there, with hospice, if needed, to extend their lives as long as possible.
“We’re working with UCSD and scientists, experts and consultants to build the most user-friendly special needs assisted-living Alzheimer’s clinic in the nation,” Scott Murfey said. “We’re trying to make it a model we can replicate in different parts of the country. This is an exciting project that we’re very proud of.”
A fundraising campaign is underway to help finance Noah Homes, and San Diego County Supervisor Diane Jacobs has been instrumental in helping the drive.
“We’re acting as the owners representatives and construction manager of the project — overseeing all the consultants and coordinating all the pre-construction — and then managing the construction,” Scott Murfey said.
Murfey Construction just completed (and sold) every townhome in their Famosa townhome project in Point Loma, and the new owners take possession of their units this month. The company also recently poured the foundation for a 36-unit apartment building in Hillcrest, on the corner of Washington and Eighth Ave. It is scheduled for completion in early 2016.
• Murfey Construction, Inc.
• 1571 La Playa Ave., San Diego
• (858) 352-6864
• (619) 857-1549
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