With Cafes and Restaurants, Senior Housing is Opening Itself up to the Public

By Nate Berg

Public-facing amenities at assisted living facilities are connecting seniors to their wider communities.

The North of Main Cafe in Bellevue, Washington, has all the trappings of a typical urban coffee shop: a high-end espresso machine, a pastry case stocked with scones, and patio seating on the sidewalk. It’s the kind of place where friends might meet to chat over lattes or a remote worker might go to get a little laptop time.

What’s odd about this coffee shop, and what’s not outwardly obvious, is that it’s actually part of a senior living facility. While the shop has a conventional storefront and entrance from the street, it also has a nondescript door inside that connects directly to the Watermark at Bellevue, a mid-rise tower with 110 units of assisted living residences, 26 units of memory care facilities, and other services focused on the needs of senior citizens. The cafe and a recently opened ground floor restaurant in a nearby independent living building, are among a new class of amenities in senior living facilities that serve both residents and the general public.

“It really gives the ability for the current residents to be able

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