Primrose of Sedalia Holds Grand Opening

Primrose Retirement Community of Sedalia held a four-hour open house and grand opening on Thursday at 3751 West 10th Street.

A Sedalia Area Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at 1 p.m., followed by lunch and tours of the facility and a meet-and-greet with staff, as well as a live band performing for the crowd.

BJ Schaefbauer, president of Primrose Retirement Communities, which is headquartered in Aberdeen, South Dakota, spoke with KSIS about the Sedalia facility.

“We just acquired this senior living facility here in Sedalia, we're calling it Primrose of Sedalia, and Primrose was founded in 1989 by Jim Thares, who's still one of the principal partners and CEO, so we've been in the business for 34 years, this is all we do. We develop and operate senior living facilities. We don't acquire very often. This is one of four of the 36 communities that we have across 17 states that we've acquired. What we love about this is the town, mostly, that's what really attracted us here, the size of the town,” Schaefbauer told KSIS.

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“Aberdeen is about 25,000 people. The four of us principal owners are small town guys, this is our wheelhouse, this is what we do, we know how good people are in communities like this, so we just fell in love with Sedalia instantly. And then when we came into the building here to meet the staff, Erica and her team, they're just a great bunch of people. They fit right into our company,” Schaefbauer noted.

When asked if he retained most of the staff, he replied “We did, we kept all of them. They're all locals, a lot of then have been here a long, long time, and so we're just going to teach them the Primrose way,” he said. “This is all we do, we're the best in every market we operate in, so we aim to be the best here.”

The demand for such a facility is huge, Schaefbauer noted. “And there's more coming. The baby boomers start turning 80 in 2025, so there's a wave coming. So this is a good industry to be in right now,” he said.

Primrose of Sedalia has 129 units and covers 127,000-square feet in total. It is currently 80 percent occupied, “so we're looking to move people in, so it's wide open. Come on by, we have every shape and size of apartments,” he added. “Come in and talk to Erica and Angie, they'll get it done for you.”

For more information, visit PrimroseRetirement.com or call (660) 827-8900.