Senior care demand drives growth across Northeast Wisconsin

Judith Munson

Contributor

August 24, 2026

NORTHEAST WISCONSIN – Demand for senior living accommodations is driving new construction across Northeast Wisconsin.

Facilities taking shape in the region range from a 20-unit site in Wrightstown to a $42 million SSM Health complex in Fond du Lac.

In Neenah, CopperStone Senior Living is also expanding, while Sheboygan is preparing for a new option that will bring at-home care services to the market. 

Opening a second location in Fox Crossing Aug. 10, Aaron Barrett – who owns CopperStone with his wife, Nicole – said the 72,000-square-foot facility sits on 62 acres with room for future expansion once it reaches full occupancy. 

Aaron said the growth in senior living comes down to a simple demographic shift: “Every day, 10,000 Baby Boomers retire.” 

Brady Schwab – chief growth and strategic operations officer for Right at Home, which provides at-home care for seniors – said the growing population is also creating demand for care options outside traditional senior living facilities.

“Wisconsin faces a future where older adults will eventually outnumber children for the first time in history,” he said. “Our latest data suggests there are more than 36,000 seniors defined as 65 or older in the Sheboygan market. That’s almost 21% of the total population.”

Schwab said this growing need is part of what prompted Right at Home to prepare to enter the market.

For decades, economists have warned of a coming “silver tsunami” as the Baby Boomer generation ages and the demand for senior care grows.

Though that demographic shift has helped drive new development across the country, Aaron said the recent building boom also can be traced to changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Pre-COVID, there was overbuilding in some markets, but COVID threw a curveball at the industry, basically stopping all building for years,” he said. “We’ve had the lowest development rate in more than a decade in senior living, while demand is at its highest.”

Aaron said the national average for senior living occupancy once hovered in the low 80% range.

“It’s about to reach 90%, which is the first time in my memory that the average occupancy would be 90% across all facilities from independent living to high-level care,” he said. “It’s going to reach an inflection point where people are not going to be able to find a place to go.”

Despite the Fox Valley serving as a “hotbed for senior living,” Aaron said the need for more living space continues to grow.

“There’s so much industry here,” he said. “We’ve built a long-term employee base. With the Baby Boomer part of that base now needing a significantly higher level of care, the hospitals, clinics, specialists and senior living providers have to match that need.” 

CopperStone focuses on quality care

Aaron said CopperStone’s new facility was “a worthwhile risk” regardless of high construction and debt costs driven by inflation and elevated interest rates.

Though demand is ever-growing, he said senior living projects can take two to three years to complete.

Located at 751 Deerwood Ave., Nicole said the new CopperStone facility has 56 assisted living units and 20 memory care units.

She said the facility is intended to serve as “a high-care setting for people with complex needs who 10 years ago would have been in a nursing home.”

“The facility offers 24/7 skilled nursing care,” she said. “Many of our residents are clinically complex and have multiple co-morbidities, so a high nurse-to-resident ratio is maintained. That, partnered with high retention of our caregivers, is central to providing high-quality care.”

Aaron said CopperStone’s focus on the Fox Valley region is intentional.

“We’ve had many opportunities to either acquire or develop in other areas, but we love the Fox Valley and, specifically, we love Fox Crossing,” he said. “When we had the opportunity to acquire this property, we knew we could eventually develop it into a full continuum-of-care campus.”

A common theme among these new facilities, Aaron said, is an emphasis on creating a more rural environment with greater access to nature – which can be especially meaningful for seniors who grew up in small towns or on farms.

For CopperStone, he said that balance was a key consideration in choosing its Fox Crossing location. 

Inside, Aaron said the complex includes one-bedroom and studio apartments, a dining facility, coffee bar, library, private meeting spaces and a fully enclosed courtyard for memory care residents.

Outside, he said the design takes advantage of the property’s rural setting – as the facility is located a few miles from the first CopperStone location and features a walking path around the community with two ponds.

What was once a soybean field, he said, is now a prairie complete with native flowers and grasses.

Aaron said for him, the biggest differentiator isn’t just the setting – it’s CopperStone’s local, family-owned ownership and the accountability that comes with it.

“The fact that we’re local and family-owned and not part of some national chain is probably one of our biggest selling points,” he said. “They know we have personal ties to the community. They know we’re going to be more accountable as a result.”

Creating a “home-like” environment and sense of community, Aaron said, is central to a successful senior living experience.

Staying connected to the broader community, he said, is just as important – adding that CopperStone had an opportunity to demonstrate that before it even opened its doors.

With an EF3 tornado devastating the surrounding community just days before CopperStone’s opening, Aaron said they considered a delay, but ultimately were encouraged by local officials to stick with their plans.

“We lost our community center and one of our fire stations – all of the fire trucks were destroyed,” he said. “I told the village president at the ribbon cutting that we’re opening up our new facility for them to use as a community center until they can get their facilities up and running. We have a family-like relationship with Fox Crossing. We’d do anything for them.”

SSM Health to bring major senior facility makeover to FDL

SSM Health in Fond du Lac is preparing to significantly upgrade its senior living capabilities by phasing out its nearly 50-year-old St. Francis Home – located on the St. Agnes Hospital campus.

Denise Gloede, president of Continuum of Care at SSM Health, said a new $42 million, 180,000-square-foot complex with 136 units will be built off Highway 23 on the east side of the city.

Gloede said construction will start early next year, with the complex expected to open in 2028.

She said it will feature independent living apartments, assisted living, memory care and high-need assisted living.

Changing consumer preferences and needs, Gloede said, are behind the move to a new, multi-story and multipurpose facility.

“Seniors are seeking home-like options for assisted care,” she said. “We are delighted to be developing a modern campus with beautiful surroundings to offer seniors a welcoming, supportive home environment that promotes independence, enhanced quality of life and personalized care.”

Gloede said Baby Boomers also want more options that allow them to age in place, which is why the new facility offers independent living and full nursing care services.

She said the new facility will serve as a major upgrade for staff and residents alike, due to a more efficient layout.

“Our staff has to walk so much at the current campus, which is just sprawling,” she said. “The new facility will include staff stations located centrally to residents, larger rooms and new amenities.”

Gloede said these amenities will amplify the new facility’s goal of “creating community” for residents.

“Our ground floor will offer community space, including a cafe, wellness room and large rooms for gathering and fellowship,” she said.

Gloede said the new complex will also include gardens and an outdoor walking loop for memory care residents, giving them more space to move around than the hallways of a traditional facility.

“Another great aspect of the new campus is that many of the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes who lived at the previous location will be moving here,” she said. “They’ll get to interact with the other residents, allowing them to continue their ministry.”

Gloede said the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes played a significant role in making the project possible by gifting the land to SSM Health.

She said SSM Health will own the new community, which will be managed by ElderSpan Management – a Madison-based, family-operated company that also manages two SSM Health senior living communities in Baraboo.

Wrightstown to get first senior living home

Our Family, Our Home, a 20-unit senior living facility, has broken ground in Wrightstown, with Owners Macaela and Travis Cornelissen expecting construction to wrap up in January and the first residents to move in as early as February.

The Cornelissens said for them, the project is about more than adding another senior living option.

Macaela said they wanted to create local jobs while helping seniors remain connected to the community.

She said the facility’s goal is reflected in the name Our Family, Our Home and the need they saw in the area between Kaukauna and De Pere.

“There is no facility for our seniors from Kaukauna to De Pere,” she said. “Many of them do not want to have to leave for some massive, siloed facility in a strange place. It’s important for seniors to be close to family, close to home.”

Macaela said the spacious units will give residents room to bring more of their belongings from home, while the surrounding countryside will provide a familiar setting for residents, including one who plans to bring his raised garden beds.

She said the facility will offer more than independent living, with skilled nursing and memory care services available for residents who need a higher level of care.

As an RN with experience in senior living, Macaela said she has a firsthand understanding of what works – and what doesn’t – in these communities.

“Our Family, Our Home will prioritize creating a culture where staff feel appreciated and rewarded,” she said. “We want people to stay long-term, and that means paying people what they’re worth. They have such a heart for this work and the residents.”

Right at Home targets Sheboygan for expansion 

Though its model differs from traditional senior living facilities, Schwab said Right at Home is another response to the growing demand created by the aging population.

He said Right at Home has identified Sheboygan as a market for expansion, where it would provide in-home assistance with meal preparation, bathing, physical therapy, cleaning and other services. 

“Sheboygan has a lot of the characteristics that we look for from a franchising perspective,” he said. “Right at Home already has a strong presence in Wisconsin with 10 existing territories. We see the viability for more in-home care in this general region.”

Schwab said Wisconsin’s demographic shift toward a future when older adults outnumber children for the first time is not temporary. 

“They are going to continue for decades,” he said. 

Schwab said the average age of Right at Home’s clients is 82, an age that a growing number of Baby Boomers are beginning to approach. 

“And the ‘sandwich generation’ – the people balancing careers, raising families and helping their aging parents – is getting smaller,” he said.

Schwab said families are also more geographically dispersed than in previous generations, increasing the need for third-party help.

“There are people who still don’t know about the at-home care option until they’re in some sort of crisis – their parents had a fall, for example – and they need help right away,” he said. “They know those activities of daily living aren’t going to be easy for their mom or dad.” 

Schwab said Right at Home often fills the gap between an emergency health event and the point when a parent may need to move into a senior living facility. 

“We help them stay home longer and stay safe, happy and healthy,” he said. 

Schwab said Right at Home also serves as an important link between clients and other healthcare resources.

“We’re always excited about making home the center of health,” he said.

Just the beginning?

The wave of senior living development across Northeast Wisconsin appears to be only getting started – a trend highlighted by The Business News’ coverage in recent years. 

Over the past two years, The Business News has tracked a variety of new and expanding senior living facilities – from Sycamore Lodge and Woodland Residences breaking ground in Mishicot in May 2025; to Evergreen Retirement Community’s planned Fox Valley expansion announced in March 2025; to Renaissance by Rennes in Appleton breaking ground on a major renovation and expansion nearly three decades after opening, reported in August 2025. 

But The Business News’ coverage shows the growth isn’t limited to new construction. 

It is creating an expanding ecosystem of businesses and services designed to help older adults live well – and help families navigate the increasingly complicated choices that come with aging.

CarePatrol Green Bay, profiled in the July 28, 2025, issue of The Business News, has grown from a one-person operation into a team helping families sort through dozens of local care options – recently relocating to a larger De Pere office to meet growing demand. 

Meanwhile, Touchmark on West Prospect, highlighted by The Business News in its May 4, 2026, issue, continues to renovate and plan for expansion as demand grows.

That combination of new construction, expanded services and growing demand points to a market that, as The Business News’ coverage shows, is still in its early stages. 

And as Northeast Wisconsin’s senior population continues to grow, the Barretts, the Cornelissens, Schwab and Gloede agree that today’s new facilities and services may represent only the first wave of a much larger transformation in senior care.