About 100 senior citizens will be looking for new residences soon now that two local assisted living facilities in Silver Spring and Bethesda have announced plans to close.
HCR ManorCare, which operates Springhouse Bethesda and Springhouse Silver Spring, sent a letter to residents Feb. 25 notifying them that the company plans to sell the facilities and will close them June 1.
“We understand that this news is quite unexpected and upsetting,” Allison Morrow, the regional director of operations for HCR ManorCare, wrote in the letter. “We are committed to assisting each resident and family in evaluating and selecting alternate living arrangements.”
Rick Rump, a spokesman for HCR ManorCare, said in an email that the June 1 date is “meant to be a target date to give residents and their families an idea on timing. It is not final and may need to be adjusted as we get closer.”
The Bethesda location houses 53 residents and the Silver Spring facility has 42 according to the Montgomery Gazette. State regulations require senior care centers to provide residents and their families at least 45 days of notice before closing. Both locations provided about 90 days, but some families were still surprised, according to the Gazette report.
HCR ManorCare also closed its Springhouse location in the Westbard area of Bethesda last year.
Springhouse Bethesda is at 4925 Battery Lane, while the Silver Spring facility is at 2201 Colston Drive. Both locations sit on valuable real estate. The Bethesda location may be rezoned for more density under county planners’ ongoing revision of a master plan for downtown Bethesda. The Silver Spring location is near East West Highway, and about a mile from the Silver Spring Metro station.
