MARQUETTE — Senior citizens living by themselves can accomplish many things on their own, but it can help to live in a one-level home with a walk-in shower.

Those are some of the amenities being included in the $1.1 million expansion project of the independent senior living community, or Commons area, at the Mill Creek Senior Living Community, located in the Harlow Farms Conservation Neighborhood at 1600 Mill Creek Court.

Mill Creek Marketing Director Erin Swadley said the project is in the third phase of construction on its independent living section, with the first phase having begun in 2013.

The expansion will allow for more housing space — duplexes, specifically — for future residents.

“Right now we have 14 homes, and with this construction, we will have 20,” said Swadley, who pointed Mill Creek has been full for over a year, with a waiting list.

The first home in Phase 3 is expected to be completed in the beginning of August, she said, with all three homes finished by fall.

Each vinyl-sided home will have two bedrooms, one bathroom and a single-vehicle garage, with an open-floor plan that includes a kitchen, living room and dining room.

“It’s all on one level,” Swadley said. “There’s no steps, so it’s built specifically to meet the needs of seniors who can no longer manage living at home, with all of the maintenance that comes along with that.”

With resident seniors that Swadley said range in age from their 60s to their 90s, having to walk down steps to a basement to do laundry probably isn’t the safest of activities.

There also is a wide range of abilities among the residents, with some people wheelchair bound and others able to drive the same way a younger person would, she said.

“They just don’t want to have that burden of maintaining a home anymore,” Swadley said. “So, we provide a lot of services.”

Those services involve landscaping, snow removal and housekeeping — tasks that even the non-senior set would balk at doing. Utilities also are included.

However, life in any assisted living community would be far less enjoyable were it just watching someone else remove snow from the front doorstep.

Swadley said Mill Creek extracurricular activities include a happy hour, museum visits and even trips to a grocery store.

“Just about every week we have live music here at Mill Creek,” Swadley said. “They can also partake in our meal program, so they have lunch that’s included every day. They can have it delivered to their door or they can come over here to our dining room and enjoy it here with the assisted living residents.”

Mill Creek is unique in the area, she said, with it being a “continuum of care community” with independent living, assisted living, memory care and advanced care options.

Hinkson Properties, which is locally owned and operated, offers other assisted living and continuing care communities along with Mill Creek, with the Teal Lake Senior Living Community in Negaunee being one of them.

The Commons is another name for Mill Creek’s independent living community, she said.

“The Mill Creek Commons is located right next door to our main building, so it’s easy to walk over for the amenities we have here,” Swadley said.

Mill Creek’s independent living apartment homes — private residences on the same property as its assisted living area — is an option for seniors who don’t want to maintain their homes but still can live alone with supportive services.

Swadley Development, LLC, based in Marquette, is the expansion project developer. According to the company website, it designed two types of homes, 916 and 996 square feet each, which will be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Project developer Lynn Swadley, also her father, said progress on the Commons expansion is going well, with Sunrise Builders, based in Harvey, running ahead of schedule.

Christie Bleck can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.