History

The Idea Behind North Hill
Necessity is the mother of invention. In the late 1970’s, a group of local community leaders from Needham and Wellesley got together because they saw a real need in the housing market. They recognized that as people grew older, the house was no longer a great fit. READ MORE.

Aside from the obvious hazards like climbing ladders to make repairs, they saw other challenges like escalating costs and social isolation that living in a house would pose for all of us at some point. The only alternatives were apartment houses, condominiums, and nursing homes, but none of these options were appropriate for the people that these leaders were trying to serve. They envisioned the creation of a new kind of a housing option… one with the right services, amenities, and health care options that would help their fellow citizens (and someday themselves!) preserve their cherished independence, enjoy peace of mind, and stay close to their families and friends.

The Babson Connection
As fate would have it, at the same time this group was working on its plan for creating this new housing option, the Trustees of Babson College were looking to find an appropriate use for an undeveloped 59 acre parcel of land on the eastern side of its campus. READ MORE

These two groups were made aware of each other, and quiet conversations began to take place which were very encouraging. Before long, a developer was selected, a master plan drawn, and the lengthy entitlement process commenced.

Drama at the Town Meeting
Understandably, when the members of the town meeting in the town of Needham heard that there was a plan in the works to build a 500,000+ square foot community in their quiet town, there were some tough questions asked. How tall would the buildings be? What would this do to traffic on Central Avenue? How would this new neighbor impact town services? READ MORE

At the end of a long process, the final vote tallied was a tie, with the town moderator casting the tie breaking vote to approve the construction of North Hill. With hindsight as a guide, all evidence suggests that the moderator cast the right vote. North Hill is now a cherished member of the community.

Choosing the right kind of community to build
When it came time to finally build North Hill, an important decision had to be made about which financial model to embrace. At that time, there were essentially two different financial models of full service retirement communities. One, known as Life Care, cost a little more, but kept pricing stable even if a person had to move to a higher level of care. The other cost less, but if a person needed to move from independent living to a higher level of care, the costs of living at the community would rise substantially for the person. READ MORE

North Hill liked the idea of Life Care very much. This approach would enable people to enjoy life in a vibrant setting and preserve their assets even if they experienced unforeseen or lengthy health problems. However, there was one big downside to Life Care at the time that North Hill didn’t like. All of the Life Care communities at that time had a policy of not refunding entrance fees except as required by law. The communities that didn’t offer life care offered a refund of entrance fees above what the law required. North Hill wanted to have its cake and eat it too… A Life Care community with a refundable entrance fee.

Innovation
North Hill didn’t invent the Life Care Community… North Hill invented the Life Care Community with a 90% refundable entrance fee. Fortunately for North Hill, one of our founding trustees was a man by the name of Jarvis Farley. Jarvis made his career as an actuary… a person who helps insurance companies predict the claims that they will need to pay. READ MORE

This background and a can-do spirit made Jarvis ideally suited for the task, and he was able to come up with a way of pricing North Hill that kept it affordable for the people in its neighborhood, offered a Life Care agreement that ensured it would remain affordable for the people who moved in even if they required long term care for an extended period of time, and accomplished both of those things while providing a 90% refund of the entrance fee for residents of the community.