West Falls: ‘The Reserve’ to Occupy City’s Tallest Building; What’s Unique about Their Senior Living Model?

Within the West Falls development, the tallest building in the Little City – at 15 stories – is slated to open by the spring of 2027. 

Custom designed as a luxury senior living community by Denver-based NexCore’s Experience Senior Living (ESL), the Hospitality Design Guild, and Perkins Eastman architects, ‘The Reserve of Falls Church,’ will be offering 26,000 sq.-feet of three-tiered senior living with: 131 residences in Independent Living, 58 in Assisted Living, and 26 in Memory Care. No other senior living facility in the City provides all three tiers of care. Thirty percent of the Independent Living units have already been leased.

The Falls Church Independent was invited to visit the Reserve’s plush leasing showroom at 7115 Leesburg Pike, #104, to interview ESL’s National Sales Leader, Jessica Mosier, and Assistant Executive Director, Amy Grossman. We were curious about what might differentiate the Reserve’s vision and business model from other senior living facilities.

A People First Culture

ESL’s President, Phil Barklow, prioritizes a “people first culture,” at The Reserve, according to the firm. “Buildings don’t create community, people do…. Everything begins with residents, families, and team members.” The firm’s philosophy is to “hire hospitality-minded professionals and build programming around each resident's unique story.” 

Culture, Cuisine, and Community

Devoted to fostering “culture, cuisine, and community,” The Reserve’s “hospitality inspired” senior living concept is designed to serve as a “community within a community” where “older adults can thrive,” together and individually. “We expect to have more than 50 clubs and interest groups built around the unique talents, hobbies, passions, and interests of our residents,” Grossman wrote. Staff at the Reserve will help ensure that residents feel genuinely connected and never isolated. Not only will the site be “pet friendly,” but residents can even take their pets to the pet spa on campus. 

Residents will also have plentiful opportunities to connect with the vibrant and enriching urban setting of West Falls, the City of Falls Church, and the broader Metro region. “The urban, walkable West Falls location appeals to people who don't want to feel removed from the greater community,” Grossman wrote. 

Residents' Health and Sense of Purpose

The residents’ sense of purpose, as well as their physical and mental health will also be nurtured with “wellness beyond a fitness room,” providing an “integrated lifestyle with amenities such as an indoor saltwater pool, steam room, and sauna, smart fitness and group exercise yoga studio, and more.” Healthy foods will also be plentiful. “Chef-driven cuisine with certified organic ingredients, locally-sourced food, grass-fed beef, wild-caught seafood, accommodations for vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free diets,” and “six unique dining venues including two bar/restaurants and a steakhouse,” will be available. 

The Reserve’s overall design concept is intended to create “purposeful spaces” where “residents [can] continue learning and creating,” including “maker spaces” in creative arts with a “kiln, podcast studio, theater, library, and multiple gathering spaces.” And the designed spaces will intentionally connect to local culture and history. “Soaring ceilings, timeless architecture, and sophisticated finishes create a refined, welcoming environment inspired by the character, elegance, and architectural heritage of Falls Church and the greater Washington, D.C. region,” Grossman wrote. Even the pool’s ceiling has an enormous mural of a Virginia dogwood flower. 

“When you walk in, you would not think it's a senior living community,” Mosier told us. “And I would probably say that this will be the nicest community I've ever walked into.” But, it will also not feel like a hotel, Grossman reassured. “It’s not a standardized space.” At the Reserve, no “cookie cutter approaches” will be seen. “Every single detail is thought through. Like, our architect came in here one day and he starts showing us all this detail, and he has tears in his eyes because he’s so excited and so passionate about it.” 

With only 215 apartments, and 131 of those being Independent Living, Grossman said, “it makes it a little bit smaller, which we think feels much more cozy as opposed to a larger community where people can get lost. It's like picking a big college versus a smaller college. You can make those intimate connections.”

“We are all about fostering meaningful connections, promoting wellness, inspiring purpose, and delivering exceptional experiences,” ESL wrote. “We honor our residents’ stories, create experiences, and help people live fully. We’re creating communities where anyone would love to live, a place they desire to be and enjoy exceptional hospitality and culinary programs, personalized experiences, with the comfort of knowing that care is available if needed…. The [Reserve] team spends significant time getting to know each resident before move-in, learning their interests, routines, and life stories so the experience feels personal from the start.” 

The Human Elements

“From wellness, fitness, and therapy programs to intergenerational experiences, collaborative partnerships, and family celebrations, every aspect of life at The Reserve is designed to foster connection, purpose, and well-being,” Grossman wrote. “Ultimately, it’s these human elements, building genuine relationships, personalizing each resident's experience, and creating a community with residents rather than for them, that may become our greatest differentiator, especially as our first residents begin to shape the culture of the community.”

As “our community takes shape, we hope more local residents and families become aware of the opportunity to remain close to the people and places they love while enjoying a vibrant, engaging, and supportive retirement lifestyle,” Grossman wrote. “Whether someone is planning ahead for themselves or helping a loved one explore future options, we want the community to know about our exceptional community coming to Falls Church.”

Mosier and Grossman prefer to use the term “experiences” as opposed simply to “activities,” when describing all the stimulating and enriching things residents can enjoy at the Reserve and in the wider community. “So, 'activities' [connote things like] bingo and card games,” said Grossman. “But we're way beyond bingo and card games. Yes. We’ll have games, but we also have things that are more enriching that we call ‘experiences.’” 

Enriching Experiences Based on What Residents Want to Do

Mosier added: “One of the things we talk a lot about is…. ‘This is our residents’ home. So what do they want to do? What are the things they like? So, we don’t just make up the activity and experience calendar ourselves. We really work together with our residents and ask, ‘What do you want to do? Nice. Okay.’”

“So some of the things we've [already] heard [they might want] is a speaker series. It could be authors coming in, or we could be going to an author and listening to them speak. Or, it might be an economist. It might be going to the museums…. And can we do some more behind-the-scenes type of experiences because we have some really special people moving into our community?”

Mosier elaborated on the Reserve’s team approach. “And that's where we get into, somebody coming up with a random idea, and we're like, ‘That sounds great!’ And we don't shy away from anything. So that's the fun part for us – we get to kind of dream a little bit and just go big because this is what people are wanting to experience…. We’ll have a makerspace in the community…. and they can turn it into an art gallery and do an art exhibit with an artist that lives in the community. Or, they can do it with somebody external. But it‘s also kind of this fun, messy space. So we have a ton of art supplies there where we can make our own art, and art can be a lot of different things. It doesn't have to be with a paintbrush.”

“We also have a pottery wheel and a kiln, so we'll be running those classes. And you don't have to be a master pottery person to hang out in these spaces. We're going to teach you, and that's the fun part. And a podcast room, that's a form of art as well. And some of our residents are doing their own podcasts…. and some people are being interviewed on podcasts.”

“And then we have musicians who can use that space to record some of their own music,” Mosier said. “And that was one of the things – when we talk about the opportunities with the high school and middle school. How do we get the kids involved? I know they have some podcasting at the school, but come work with our residents.”

“You know, the health journey doesn't end just because we're of a certain age. Right? So how do we continue to talk about what we can be doing with our cardio health and cardiovascular and all of those things. So our nurse or somebody in our community [could come in to speak] about it. Or, why not have somebody from Johns Hopkins or maybe it's even somebody in our resident community that's a former cardiologist. Right? So, there are so many things we'll explore together. And we never get into the habit of saying ‘no.’ We say, ‘That sounds like a really amazing idea, let's see how we can do that.’” 

“I think there's just some really neat opportunities we don't get to see a lot in senior living,” Mosier said. “And when we build communities, especially the Reserve brand, we could take all this amenity space and we could turn it into apartments…. but we choose to have a lot of amenity space because we know that's important.”

Why West Falls?

Asked why ESL selected West Falls as the Reserve’s next location, Mosier gave a little of the backstory. “So, the Reserve, as a brand, has been a dream of our president and our company for a long time. He literally tells the story about waking up one time in the middle of the night saying, ‘I have this dream about wanting to do things differently in senior living.’ And we talk a lot about ‘breaking all the rules in senior living’…. We want to do it differently. So that's kind of where the Reserve brand was born.” The firm opened its first Reserve in Denver only a year and a-half ago, and had Falls Church on its radar from the beginning. There had always been a senior living center planned for West Falls, but after Goodwin House backed out, ESL was happy to make West Falls their second location. 

I asked Mosier why Falls Church? “I would say the cultural benefits of being here – there's so much, you know – education, theater, all the things that people are really interested in. But I think it goes beyond that. There’s truly a sense of community here, and in the surrounding areas. I think that's been a huge benefit,” she said. Grossman added: “And I think the proximity to Washington D.C. and being able to travel and move easily with a Metro station, Route 66, and other ways to easily get around. Plus, it’s lively here and it's walkable…. You know, it's very rare in senior living that we get to come up with a development at the same time.” 

“And I think for us, the thing we talk about the most is that the West Falls development is amazing,” Mosier said. “I live over there personally [at the Alder], so I get to experience all the things happening over there. And it’s so exciting…. The grocery stores, the shopping, the doctors’ offices. There's so much there and it’s so rich in culture. It's just so exciting. I mean, there’s exercise happening every single week in [Commons Park]. They have concerts. They have trivia nights. There's the ice cream shop…. I can’t think of another area, really, that truly benefits people like this one.” Grossman also cited Falls Church’s parades, festivals, and farmer’s markets, whose “purveyors are the people we’re going to be working with as far as our food, our meats, and our vegetables.”

“I think sometimes when we think of seniors, we think of somebody who cannot do anything, and they're just very sedentary,” Mosier said. “And that’s just not the population and the demographic that, for one, is here in Falls Church, or the population we seek out in our communities. We want the active people. We want the people who are just done with the lifestyle of having to take care of home and have become lonely or have lost a spouse. These things are all part of life, but they don't have to be your end-all-be-all and the next chapter for you. It can actually be really exciting.”

Unlike a massive Continuum Care Retirement Community (CCRC) that houses thousands of seniors and therefore tends to be isolated in the countryside, the Reserve will be situated where it’s most vibrant, Mosier said, “.... as part of this really fun development. It's gonna be its own thing, and that's wonderful. And if you're looking for that vibrancy and kind of coming together with multi-diversity, and multicultural, and [a diversity of] ages, with the high school and the middle school, there's just so much coming together. I mean, there's a Spanish immersion pre-school. And I can't think of another community I've ever seen across the United States – And, having traveled a lot through the United States in senior living, I just haven't seen anythingh like this. So, it's just a really unique opportunity.”

Links to the School Campuses

Speaking of the school campuses at West Falls, Grossman added that they offer great opportunities for both campus students and residents at the Reserve: “I was going to talk about the schools and the opportunity to really be connected to more diversity…. The schools can help enrich the community. Students will be enriched and our residents can also go into the schools…. We often say we have a ‘community within a community.’ So, with the schools being nearby, there are so many opportunities for volunteering, for getting connected, and for our residents to be enriched at the high school as well…. Intergenerational programs are a wonderful thing for adults. And a lot of our prospects have family members who go to that school.” 

“And I think there are tons of opportunities we haven't even really explored yet,” Mosier said. “We were just asking, ‘How can we really think through this with some of the teachers?’ And they’ve reached out to us. They're going to be onboarding brand new teachers… And how do we take all these brand new people – who've either never taught or are starting their first year teaching here at Meridian – and, say, ‘Hey, let me remind you of all these really amazing opportunities right here in West Falls. Like, it doesn't just have to end in the classroom. It can extend out into the development and the community. And I think when the City was putting this together, that was really the concept of it – how do we create this really special community?” 

An Emphasis on Healthy Foods

I asked Mosier how the chef-driven menus came to be so important in the Reserve’s senior living model. “We’ve all had that experience of eating at a senior living community and walking away and saying, ‘That was not the best meal I've ever had,’ Right? But, we've seen quite an evolution in chefs realizing they can work in senior living communities and not have to work 80 hours a week at their restaurants and realizing they can still have the same creativity…. And, I think we're taking that to another whole level – with organic, locally-sourced food. To our knowledge, there isn't another company doing that…. and when you think about brain health, and all of those things, it’s just really, really important.”

Competition with Kensington Falls Church?

Asked if competition is stiff with the Kensington Falls Church senior living complex on Broad Street, Mosier said the Reserve and the Kensington actually operate more as “partners” than as rivals. They even refer potential residents to one another. “And the Kensington has gotten such great reviews. People are happy there, and it's literally right down the street. So I think with that partnership, I see that continuing very well.”

The Initial Community Payment and Monthly Rental Model

I asked Mosier what sort of rental, leasing, or purchasing options the Reserve offers. “We have a year lease with a 60 day out-clause,” she said. “And ours is very easy to get out of. The whole concept is, we figure out the formula – that we have to treat people with respect and just a high level of hospitality – and we have to do that on a daily basis, because we don't want them to leave…. So, the contract is essentially easily [terminable]. They can basically leave at any time. So what an opportunity for us to be able to say, we're going to know every single thing about each resident. We know their family. We know their kids. We know their grandkids. We know the dogs. Like, we know their favorite meal. So, this is the opportunity we get to do every single day, and that is a very different experience than being amongst thousands of seniors living in one community.”

Grossman added that – similar to paying a lump condominium fee – the Reserve’s initial non-refundable community fee of $25,000 and the monthly rent (with differing pricing based on the tier of care and the size and features of each residence) garner not only all the luxurious amenities of the Reserve, but remove the sundry headaches and anxieties of home ownership. These include such considerations as: utility costs, roof repairs, HVAC maintenance, plumbing, landscaping, home security, mortgage payments, house taxes, and many other costs – including time – homeowners often forget to factor in to their monthly expenses. But now, with the resident at the Reserve, all the amenities are included as well as: “some transportation, meals, housekeeping, and you don't have to worry about it whether something breaks. We take care of that. Right? So you go on vacation when you want to.”

“So, is the Reserve a super-posh community?,” I asked. “Well, I’ve sat down with people and done the math many times,” Grossman said. “And once you start looking at numbers, the buying communities [senior facilities where residents purchase their apartments] – which are so popular and prevalent around here – once you start comparing that price with what you're paying here, with a rental model and our community fee that’s nonrefundable, then whatever rent you choose as far as your apartment size, it comes out relatively the same.” She added that many potential residents have discussed the numbers with their financial advisors, “and I would say, interestingly enough, most financial advisers are like, ‘I'd rather have you do a rental model than a buy-in model.’” Plus, it can sometimes be quite difficult to re-sell a senior residence you've purchased.

Fancy Without Being Fussy

Mosier added: “I think one of the things is, too, we're sitting here talking about all these wonderful things… but I think, Amy kind of touched on the idea, that it’s the people who warm [the place] up. And that matters because the last thing people want to do is – yes, they want to have this next great space to go live in – but we don't want it to feel too fancy to touch, and too fancy to enjoy.” Grossman agreed: “It's fancy without being fussy. And it's their home. It should be lived in. And that's what all these spaces are for. They're not to be not touched. They're to enjoy.”

Encouraging Visitors

To encourage guests at the Reserve, a family dining room provides a cozy meeting space where meals can be catered, or catered dishes can be delivered directly to residents’ rooms. In fact, “any space in the community, the resident can reserve for their own private gatherings,” Mosier said. The chef-driven menu and selection from six bar/restaurants obviously provides a lure for guests as well. Residents can also use their own meal cards for their guests. 

Family Incentives to Move In

“So, family members [are saying], ‘Look, Mom and Dad, I really want you to be near me,” Mosier said. “'The kids are growing up, and I haven't seen you as much'…. And the entire city is appealing to folks. And being in our community and within this community – where they're near their family – they're in this urban walkable environment with so much right outside their doors. So it’s really appealing. And we see a lot of people excited about that.”

Asked if the Falls Church City government has been helpful in the design, building, and legal requirements, Grossman said ESL and its partners have been pleased. “At the end of the day, they want this as badly as we do, and they see the vision,” she said. “And this all kind of came together very well…. There are even a couple of people that work for the City who have brought their parents in here to talk with us.”

By Christopher Jones