Dignitaries from North Georgia will join Morning Pointe Senior Living leaders on Oct. 18 at 10:30 a.m., to celebrate the groundbreaking of its newest senior living campus, Morning Pointe at Happy Valley.
The groundbreaking will take place at the property at 2989 Happy Valley Road in Walker County, next to Ridgeland High School. Event speakers include Shannon Whitfield, Walker County Commission chair; Cindy Scoggins, chair of the Walker County Chamber of Commerce; Rossville Mayor Teddy Harris; and Karen Hughes, principal of Ridgeland High School. Ridgeland High School’s choir and JROTC will also perform, and Farm to Fork will cater the event.
The new senior campus is part of an overall redevelopment of the historic 300-acre Happy Valley Farms between Ridgeland High School and Rossville Middle School.
The farm and estate were established in 1935 by John L. Hutcheson, Jr., and were the site of an award-winning Jersey cattle and dairy farm before Mr. Hutcheson transitioned the property into a world-class American Saddlebred horse-breeding facility. Upon the death of Marion “Bit” Hutcheson, Greg A. Vital, co-founder and president of Morning Pointe Senior Living, took an interest in the property’s unique legacy and acquired it from the heirs. The Morning Pointe campus is planned in the southeast portion of the property across from the Happy Valley Legacy Barn.
The Happy Valley location will be the 38th Morning Pointe Senior Living community and the company’s second campus in Georgia. Since 1999, Morning Pointe of Calhoun, Georgia, has served Gordon County. The single-story Happy Valley assisted living campus will be 67,000 square feet and will feature 82 spacious apartments of country farm architecture. These encompass 58 assisted living apartments and 24 memory care apartments specially designed for residents with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of memory loss. Decorations in the building will celebrate the history of Walker County, as well as the Happy Valley Farm and its legacy. Construction costs are estimated at $14,000,000.
Programming will adhere to Morning Pointe’s strong focus on clinical care with physical and occupational therapies, life enrichment and wellness offerings and intergenerational activities.
The Lantern memory care wing will provide an array of Alzheimer’s and dementia care services, including innovative therapies such as Teepa Snow’s Positive Approach to Care, Best Friends Approach and Morning Pointe’s own Meaningful Day – a purposeful memory care program providing structure to help residents feel safe and secure. The campus will also feature Morning Pointe’s Farm to Table program with local, farm-fresh and seasonal ingredients.
“As part of our Chattanooga-area presence, we are excited about serving so many in North Georgia who have connections to the Hutcheson family and Happy Valley Farms,” said Mr. Vital. “Happy Valley is one of the most beautiful locations with a rich history and legacy, and we will soon become a thriving community of residents, associates and families who will call Morning Pointe home. We are so pleased to add Happy Valley to our Morning Pointe family.”
Morning Pointe at Happy Valley’s current assisted living and memory care development is the first phase of the full-service senior living campus, which will provide a continuum of care to residents. The second phase will be a freestanding Alzheimer’s Center of Excellence designed specifically to meet the needs of residents with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
In the greater Chattanooga area, Morning Pointe operates assisted living and memory care communities in Chattanooga, Collegedale, Ooltewah, Hixson and Athens.
Founded in 1996 by healthcare entrepreneurs Greg A. Vital and J. Franklin Farrow, Morning Pointe
Senior Living operates assisted living, personal care and Alzheimer’s memory care communities in five southeastern states.
"Throughout 2022, Morning Pointe is celebrating its silver anniversary. Morning Pointe at Happy Valley will create approximately 200 construction jobs and another 200 permanent healthcare positions with a positive economic impact of more than $35 million annually, considering payroll, property taxes and local purchase of goods and services," officials said.