![]() “We needed to prove to Kendal that we could put the money together to bring this project to the marketing and design phase,” she said. Ziegler has also been active educating the impact investor on the senior living industry, O’Connell said. Kendal and Greenbrier have financial stakes in Enso Village, and the team landed an anonymous impact investor and has been working with specialty investment bank Ziegler on forming its capital stack. As the Zen Center was putting together its business model, it received a generous donation from a benefactor. When that happens, the team will be ready, O’Connell told SHN. The Enso Village team expects to start accepting deposits and break ground on the development in 2020, depending on when the entitlement process is completed. Part of the site will be earmarked for farming, and the team is also looking for ways to bring the Zen Center’s popular Green Gulch Bakery’s products to Enso Village. Enso Village will have two dining venues, one of which will be a bistro operated by the Greens staff that the Zen Center hopes will be open to the larger Healdsburg community. ![]() The Zen Center operates Greens, a popular vegan restaurant in San Francisco’s Fort Mason District. Greenbrier Development Executive Vice President Barry JohnsonĪnother amenity of note will be a focus on healthy food. The extent of their business acumen was fascinating. Enso Village residents will not be required to participate in meditation, and the community’s common spaces will have flexibility to accommodate most activities of interest for residents. In addition to upscale amenities such as a fitness center, a pool and community spaces, Enso Village will have a meditation hall as a separate purpose building. “The idea of us being completely silent is not as true as much as being present in all involvements.” “People don’t understand how much fun zen people have,” she said. But it is also more than that, O’Connell told SHN. Part of the allure is the incorporation of Sōtō zen principles into a CCRC - in particular, the concepts of quiet, meditation, allowing for time, space and reflection. “This is even before we’ve done any official marketing,” Johnson added. The response was overwhelmingly in favor and, to date, the Enso Village team has amassed a list of over 4,000 individual households eager to learn more about the project, Ryan-Mallon told SHN. Intense interestĪs Greenbrier was providing marketing research for the Zen Center on Enso Village, Kendal conducted its own marketing research with assistance from GlynnDevins, a data-driven, technology-enabled marketing firm focused on senior living with offices in Kansas City, Missouri and Richmond, Virginia.Ĭity of Healdsburg This map shows the North Entry Plan Area site in Healdsburg, California, where Enso Village will be built. “We call them the A-Team,” O’Connell said. The Zen Center believes it could not be in better hands with Kendal and Greenbrier. “Kendal’s values matched so beautifully with the Zen Center,” Ryan-Mallon said. ![]() With Greenbrier in the fold, the Zen Center did its due diligence and sought out a third partner, but realized Kendal’s federal system - which allows for wide-ranging autonomy and input from residents, board members and staff in how a senior housing community is run - was the best fit. ![]() “The extent of their business acumen was fascinating,” Johnson said. What most impressed Greenbrier, however, was how far along the Zen Center was in considering the notion of a CCRC, and how this was a unique opportunity to bring a groundbreaking approach to aging to senior living. With that advice in mind, the Zen Center then reached out to Greenbrier, which helped with business and marketing research. While Kendal was intrigued by the concept of incorporating Sōtō zen principles into a senior living environment, the nonprofit suggested the Zen Center develop the business model for the community. The Zen Center first approached Kendal about partnering on a CCRC three years ago, O’Connell said. The network of zen practice and retreat centers has always had an entrepreneurial spirit, something Kendal and Greenbrier discovered as their relationship with the Zen Center evolved. San Francisco Zen Center Spiritual Director Zesho Susan O’Connellįounded in 1962, the San Francisco Zen Center has grown to become the largest Sōtō zen organization in the West. ![]() The idea of us being completely silent is not as true as much as being present in all involvements. People don’t understand how much fun zen people have. ![]()
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