New retirement community in NE El Paso (Mesquite, Beaumont: 2015, apartments)

[Chuco]

A new large master planned retirement community located next to the Painted Dunes Golf Course could be under construction as soon as next year. I didn't even know this new community was being planned here in El Paso. I see these retirement communities all over the Southwestern US, but they are no where to be found here, so this would be good to see here finally.

Check out all the info here from the EP Development Blog: El Paso Development News: NE Retirement Community Could Spring Up By 2013

I have to say the renderings look really nice.

[TexasCCW]

With the weather we have here I see many people taking advantage of this. Kudos to the developer!

[Columbia Blue]

Looks great. My only question would be medical facilities...which the northeast lacks. Military retirees can go to nearby William Beaumont, but any others would be a fair ways away from a hospital. Outside of that it would be a nice addition to El Paso. There is a lot of money to be had from large retirement communities many of whom skip E.P. for Arizona now.

[atrabilius]

Originally Posted by Columbia Blue

Looks great. My only question would be medical facilities...which the northeast lacks.

I seem to remember from reading about this is that that's in the plan, too. With over-60s, there would have to be. This community would be on the northeast side of Painted Dunes near Mesquite Hill Drive and the Patriot Freeway---kind of isolated right now.

[mistabinks]

Originally Posted by Columbia Blue

Looks great. My only question would be medical facilities...which the northeast lacks. Military retirees can go to nearby William Beaumont, but any others would be a fair ways away from a hospital. Outside of that it would be a nice addition to El Paso. There is a lot of money to be had from large retirement communities many of whom skip E.P. for Arizona now.

Great points. When I read about this, my first thoughts were about the drain on the EPFD ambulance service. A place like needs to contract a private ambulance and not be a drain on City services.

[atrabilius]

Originally Posted by mistabinks

Great points. When I read about this, my first thoughts were about the drain on the EPFD ambulance service. A place like needs to contract a private ambulance and not be a drain on City services.

Since they're part of the city, they're entitled to city services. The El Paso Fire Department will probably put another fire station out there. They would need medical facilities (at least immediate care), with that many people moving out there--which would be good for the people in the Mesquite Hill and Futureland neighborhoods and Chaparral as well. They were trying to get a hospital in Northeast 35-40 years ago; there's this pattern of behavior in El Paso (and I don't want to badmouth the city) where good enough is good enough and some things (like establishing PBS TV stations and children's hospitals) don't get done until putting it off can't be done anymore. With all the development out in Northeast, especially this kind of development, maybe soon they'll finally pull the trigger and build a hospital.

[mistabinks]

Originally Posted by atrabilius

Since they're part of the city, they're entitled to city services. The El Paso Fire Department will probably put another fire station out there. They would need medical facilities (at least immediate care), with that many people moving out there--which would be good for the people in the Mesquite Hill and Futureland neighborhoods and Chaparral as well. They were trying to get a hospital in Northeast 35-40 years ago; there's this pattern of behavior in El Paso (and I don't want to badmouth the city) where good enough is good enough and some things (like establishing PBS TV stations and children's hospitals) don't get done until putting it off can't be done anymore. With all the development out in Northeast, especially this kind of development, maybe soon they'll finally pull the trigger and build a hospital.

This is my actual bread and butter and I can speak with first hand knowledge on the subject. For actual medical emergencies, when a life is in danger, then obviously this potential retirement center is entitled to city services. That is not what I am talking about however. Places like this are notorious for calling 911 for non-emergency situations. Things like a doctor or a nurse wanting their patient or client to be transported due to an elevated vital sign or something that is not an emergency and/or is not life threatening. These are situations where a private ambulance should be used. Non emergency 911 calls are a drain on city resources.

The EPFD will not be building a fire station in that area anytime soon. That is a fact. Fire stations are planned 3 to 5 years in advance. The next one to open will be on Mesa Hills. Next in line would be one in the Tierras in far east El Paso. After that will be the consolidation of two older fire station which will be built on 1-10 near Chelsea. That already puts us to 2015 and there are several other projects on the planning stages. Regardless, there is already a fire station on McCombs that is about 90 seconds from the proposed spot of the retirement home. They have coverage. It is how often they use it that is the question.

This is one of those situation where I have to ask who "they" are regarding your comment about building a hospital. Except for UMC, I believe most hospitals are owned by a private companies. Also, WBMC will eventually move to Loop 375 and Montana. I don't see an actual hospital in the NE within the next 10 to 20 years. Perhaps more Urgent Care Centers (which are a worse drain on city resources than retirement centers).

[ZSP]

Mistabinks...please do not call me a crab. LOL I, for one, am always looking for an opportunity to build our city up, speak of it's natural beauty and accentuate the positive attributes. I am a gringa from back east who has been here for forty forty years this month...so I must like it here.

While I love the idea of this development and think it's a wonderful addition to the northeast part of our city, as a young 60+ woman, I would not buy a retirement home there. I do not want to live in a community with such a mixed bag of living spaces, such as apartments and/or other rental units. If I am assuming there will be rental units..then that's my bad for assuming.

I would, however, love to live in a planned community with like minded people my age...the wandering pathways, access to coffee shops and other light shopping venues, green park spaces and wonderful views of the mountain vistas.

Smart planning is a positive thing for El Paso...but you don't have to please all of the people all of the time. I've seen many planned retirement communities in other cities with strict regs and covenants to prevent this.

[ZSP]

Mistabinks...please do not call me a crab. LOL I, for one, am always looking for an opportunity to build our city up, speak of it's natural beauty and accentuate the positive attributes. I am a gringa from back east who has been here for forty forty years this month...so I must like it here.

While I love the idea of this development and think it's a wonderful addition to the northeast part of our city, as a young 60+ woman, I would not buy a retirement home there. I do not want to live in a community with such a mixed bag of living spaces, such as apartments and/or other rental units. If I am assuming there will be rental units..then that's my bad for assuming.

I would, however, love to live in a planned community with like minded people my age...the wandering pathways, access to coffee shops and other light shopping venues, green park spaces and wonderful views of the mountain vistas.

Smart planning is a positive thing for El Paso...but you don't have to please all of the people all of the time. I've seen many planned retirement communities in other cities with strict regs and covenants to prevent this.

[atrabilius]

Originally Posted by mistabinks

This is my actual bread and butter and I can speak with first hand knowledge on the subject. For actual medical emergencies, when a life is in danger, then obviously this potential retirement center is entitled to city services. That is not what I am talking about however. Places like this are notorious for calling 911 for non-emergency situations. Things like a doctor or a nurse wanting their patient or client to be transported due to an elevated vital sign or something that is not an emergency and/or is not life threatening. These are situations where a private ambulance should be used. Non emergency 911 calls are a drain on city resources.

Okay.

The EPFD will not be building a fire station in that area anytime soon. That is a fact. Fire stations are planned 3 to 5 years in advance. The next one to open will be on Mesa Hills. Next in line would be one in the Tierras in far east El Paso. After that will be the consolidation of two older fire station which will be built on 1-10 near Chelsea. That already puts us to 2015 and there are several other projects on the planning stages. Regardless, there is already a fire station on McCombs that is about 90 seconds from the proposed spot of the retirement home.

Fire Station 28 at 10800 McCombs. I think I might have gotten the location of the retirement community wrong. It's just north of the intersection of US 54 and McCombs? I was thinking north of US 54 and Mesquite Hill. There's also Fire Station 34 on South Angora Loop. Seems to me there would have to be more development in that part of Northeast before they'd build another fire station off Mesquite Hill. Okay.

This is one of those situation where I have to ask who "they" are regarding your comment about building a hospital. Except for UMC, I believe most hospitals are owned by a private companies. Also, WBMC will eventually move to Loop 375 and Montana. I don't see an actual hospital in the NE within the next 10 to 20 years. Perhaps more Urgent Care Centers (which are a worse drain on city resources than retirement centers).

Well, in the late 1970s there was a group of people in Northeast that wanted to build a hospital on Gateway South at Skyline; they even had a big sign so stating on the land they wanted to build it on. I knew someone that was on the committee that wanted to get that done; she went to my parents' church, whose membership was dominated by people who lived on either side of Magnetic, in Mountain Park going one way and down to the Patriot Freeway going the other way. Her name was Joy Barron. Of course, these plans never panned out. From time to time in the Seventies and Eighties (and maybe beyond after I moved from El Paso) people would talk about it in the local media, but it never went anywhere. Hell, an immediate care center that was on the southwest corner of Dyer and Woodrow Bean Transmountain Road for a while (sometime around 1980) didn't last long. People in Northeast had a preference for going to Beaumont or the civilian hospitals in Central. If you feel like going through decades worth of old issues of the El Paso Times and Herald-Post to check this out, feel free to do so.