Don’t talk to him about senior service residences! On the occasion of the launch of the first Casa Barbara in Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine), Serge Trigano, who refined the concept with the Korian group, does not fail to recall how much he hates this expression. So how do you designate this set of 110 apartments with restaurant, services and leisure areas which has just opened at the gates of the capital? “It’s a place of life open to people from the city where, incidentally, elderly people can come and spend time”, sums up the businessman who ran Club Med before launching the Mama Shelter hotel-restaurants with his sons. And the recipe for success of these trendy places of life, he said to himself that it could also apply to people who are aging.
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One thing is certain: Serge Trigano wanted to put a bit of himself and his experience into it. If the brand is called Casa Barbara, it is in homage to his mother-in-law, of whom he keeps the memory of a generous and festive woman, embodying this connection to life and joy. Moreover, chef Pierre Gagnaire, who designs the catering for the place, also invokes family motivation for joining the team. “My parents were restaurateurs and we grew up in this permanent animation, he remembers. But when they stopped their activity and found themselves alone, they wasted away very quickly because the place where they lived was not adapted to their way of life. The quality, humanity and humility of the pillars of this team made me want to join this project.”
4 meals a day
How could these residences distinguish themselves from the many other projects and signs that are being set up in this field of activity? “The difference is the life that we bring to it, believes Serge Trigano. It’s a matter of attitude and how to make people feel at home. There are two real challenges: to fight against loneliness and to make the head work like the body. The place of restoration is thus a central element to accommodate life and animation. It is open to external customers every lunchtime as well as Friday and Saturday evenings. As for the residents, they will be offered a very complete formula concocted by Pierre Gagnaire with four meals a day (breakfast, lunch, tea-time and dinner) for €950 per month. But the place is complemented by 460 m² dedicated to leisure and well-being between a cinema room, hairdressing salon and equipped fitness room while waiting for theater and painting lessons.
“Since my first day at Korian, I have done my best to make places like this exist”, underlines Sophie Boissard, general manager of the Ehpad group and partner of this brand. She defends the creation of this type of place “which would not have been possible without the meeting of our partners” and recalls that this project aims to broaden the range, not at all to find future customers for its retirement homes. A dozen addresses of this type could open in the years to come. “It’s important to have a place where you can call home while having important common spaces for socializing, she explains. The location in the heart of the city, while being in a quiet corner is also important: it allows you to be close to the entertainment and also to your children and grandchildren.
Count 2150 euros/month for a studio
From a real estate point of view, the 6,600 m² building offers no less than 110 apartments for rent, from studios to 3-room apartments, from 26 m² to 76 m², many of them with private or shared outdoor spaces. On the price side, given the location and the services, the budget is obviously not accessible to all budgets. Count 2150 euros per month for a 32 m² studio, 2900 euros for a two-room apartment and 3900 euros for a 3-room apartment. The apartments, but you can come with your own furniture, or even choose accommodation fitted out by the interior designer Sandra Benhamou. Note: here, not the slightest visible “senior” equipment, but the place can easily be equipped with a fall detector. All the accommodations are equipped with intelligent systems controlled by a tablet allowing you to keep up to date with the activities offered and the menus but also, if necessary, to connect specific sensors according to the needs of each one.