The new Remembrance Village at Riverwood Retirement Life Community, 511 West 10th St., will feature amenities designed to have a calming effect on clients with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. The new wing, slated to open Oct. 15, will also be staffed at a higher level to assist those with the debilitating mental afflictions.

Riverwood Executive Director Regina Wright hosted a “Hot Cakes to Hard Hats” tour of the new wing for the local business community Monday and said that 13 of the 30 spaces have been pre-leased.

“We’re hoping to add 30 new jobs when we get full,” Wright said.

She also explained that the Riverwood campus has additional room toward the rear of the property to expand the Remembrance Village wing if it fills up as quickly as she anticipates it will.

Wright said that construction is running pretty much on schedule as she led visitors on a tour of the project, which is divided into a Magnolia wing and a Cherry Blossom wing.

Painters were still applying the final finish to walls, and individual heat and air conditioning units were being installed and checked out during the hard hat tour of the 20-room wing. Ten are designed as semi-private while the other ten are private rooms.

The activity room features three specially designed areas; one with the look of a 1950s-style gas station (primarily for the men). Another will feature a baby crib and dressing room (for the women), while a third area will include a juke box with hit records from years gone by.

“Most of the activities are solely designed to center around remembrance,” Wright said.

The paint scheme, both in the activity areas and individual rooms, was designed to offer a calming effect.

The courtyard area that borders the new Remembrance Village and the three story retirement community has been landscaped and features a security fence that is essential for the safety of Alzheimer’s clients, all of whom are ambulatory.