by Garth Meyer
Residents with family at Silverado Memory Care, on the Beach Cities Health District campus in Redondo Beach, are organizing to stop the facility from being closed as a result of a pending lease to redevelop the BCHD land.
Nicole Purohit, who moved her mother into Silverado in February, started a petition at Change.org, which now has 1,090 signatures, asking the BCHD board to pause their redevelopment plan, which is set to be voted on May 27.
Silverado occupies part of four floors in the former South Bay Hospital. Its 111 residents include the most severe Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia patients.
“It’s the only facility in the South Bay that cares for them,” Purohit said.
Purhohit’s mother had been evicted, her daughter said, from two other memory care facilities because of the level of her condition.
“Silverado is just outstanding,” Purohit said. “And as demographics change… We’re going to need places like this.”
BCHD has a pending lease agreement with Sunrise Assisted Living for nearly half of the District’s 11-acre hilltop campus. Sunrise, based in Oakton,Virginia, intends to build a 217-unit independent and assisted living complex there, with memory care, though without the level of care Silverado offers.
“If (a patient) has any kind of behavioral issues or challenges, they’re going to get evicted,” Purohit said.
BCHD initially chose El Segundo-based MarVentures/Continental development for the lease.
The local developer planned a new Silverado building, a new assisted living building by Merrill Gardens (Seattle, Wash.) and a new medical office building run by Torrance Memorial Hospital.
Mar Ventures/Continental Development Corp’s proposal was shelved earlier this year, after negotiations fell through with BCHD Chief Executive Tom Bakaly.
Both the Sunrise and the Continental/Mar Ventures/Silverado proposed to tear down the former South Bay Hospital building and build an assisted living building, public (green) space, a walking loop and a potential pool.
Lease revenue will go to support the BCHD’s free and low-cost health programs.
“We’re not against redevelopment, we’re not against progress, but can we do it with a place for Silverado?” Purohit said. “Can Silverado be the memory care wing? We just want the board to meet us halfway.”
The Wednesday, May 27 board agenda includes a recommendation from Bakaly and a working group to sign the ground lease with Sunrise, and give Silverado a one-year notice to vacate – during which they will not be charged rent (about $950,000).
The working group is made up of BCHD boardmember Martha Koo; Richard Thompson, a BCHD property committee member; Dennis McClean, a member of the BCHD’s Center for Health & Fitness working group; and three BCHD staff members.
The old hospital is slated to be torn down next year due to seismic concerns cited by the District.
Bakaly informed the board in March of a letter of intent he signed with Sunrise.
Also at the March meeting, representatives of Silverado families spoke, and two board members asked Bakaly about going back to the table with Mar Ventures/Continental/Silverado.
“We have not heard anything from Continental/Mar Ventures,” Bakaly said this week. “Silverado reached out, with some new numbers… We heard from one party but not the (the others).”
Bakaly cites an independent real estate consultant’s review of the issue, as well as the assessment of the BCHD property committee.
“We’ve determined the Sunrise arrangement is financially more favorable to the district,” he said.
Is it better for South Bay residents?
“Yes, because it happens sooner and allows us to collect ground rent to use for our programs,” Bakaly said. “It’s beneficial for the community as a whole.”
“We’re not convinced that the Continental/Mar Ventures/Silverado proposal would be feasible. It’s too complex, too many parties and would take too long,” he said.
At the board’s April 22 meeting, no action was taken, though more than 15 Silverado families’ representatives spoke.
“Let’s just pause for a minute. Not to vote (yet) and see if we can work this out, for the community,” Purohit said.
Silverado co-founder and CEO Loren Shook still hopes something can be done.
“It’s under consideration by the BCHD and we appreciate that,” Shook said. “We have been in the thick of it since 2018, wanting to build on the site.”
Silverado opened in the old hospital in 2007.
“The hospital was a high economic burden. We took it on, gutted (our section), added the balconies, and opened it as Silverado. (BCHD has) generated $20 million of revenue from us over 20 years. They’ve been great partners, we’re happy to be there.”
Silverado put in its own bid when BCHD called for proposals last fall to redevelop the campus.
“They didn’t accept it, so we partnered with Mar Ventures/Continental,Torrance Memorial and Merrill Gardens,” Shook said.
“Silverado proposed just a building, and Torrance Memorial also proposed just one building,” Bakaly said. “We wanted a whole campus approach, not a piecemeal approach.”
“The most important thing is, we’ve got about 100 people who haven’t been able to be served elsewhere,” Shook said.
He also contends Silverado will produce $11.5 million more in revenue for the district.
Silverado has 27 locations nationwide, including Silverado Rolling Hills, in Torrance, with a capacity for 15 people.
Other Silverado locations are 10 to 30 miles away.
Could a deal be made for Silverado to be part of the Sunrise proposal?
“We’d be delighted to work with them,” Shook said. “We could do that. That could happen, if they were willing to do that.”
Bakaly maintains that timing is an important factor, due to seismic issues with the 1960 hospital building. Shook disagrees on the need to address this by next year.
“The seismic concern is not a pressing concern for safety,” he said.
Shook previously commissioned MHP Structural Engineers of Long Beach to evaluate the building.
“They confirmed, no seismic risk,” said Shook. “If it was okay for us to occupy this space in December it stands to reason that it still is. We would not stay there if we felt it was unsafe. That is why we had MHP review the situation and they supported that this building does not violate building code requirements for our occupancy.”
What does Silverado most want to happen?
“What we need is two years, three years, to rebuild,” Shook said. “If we need to, we’ll find another site, move our people right over and save the trauma to them and the emergency medical system.”
Bakaly wrote a letter, drafted by Shook, to Silverado families dated Dec. 23, 2025, stating, “Silverado remains an important and intended part of Beach Cities Health District’s long-term development plans” and that families considering a move of a loved-one into Silverado “can do so with confidence.”
“At that time, I was optimistic, maybe too transparent,” Bakaly said. “Silverado sent us that letter to circulate, as they were worried about losing business.”
Bakaly followed it with a letter dated April 26 explaining that “circumstances have changed,” for the reasons noted above.
“There is a lot of drama going around about this building that is needless,” Shook said.
“We want to build a new building. We don’t want to be in conflict. We’ve been great friends for 20 years.”
Silverado proposes to build a free-standing building on the BCHD campus, regardless of who re-develops the rest of the property. That is the worst-case scenario, Shook said, needing “not even an acre.”
“The best case scenario is to go back to the Continental/Mar Ventures/Torrance Memorial/Merrell Gardens deal,” he said.
Bakaly points to BCHD-commissioned seismic studies “ that say demolition would be prudent. We’re not required to, but we’re leading by example, by moving our own uses out of the building, such as allcove and the Center for Health and Fitness. For Silverado, this is a hard decision (but) a transition is manageable, a building collapse is not.”
Bakaly asserts that the high-acuity patients at Silverado are a limited number, so the amount of people who would have to move from the campus in the long run is well under Silverado’s full population of 111.
“We believe there’s coverage for them with the Rolling Hills (Silverado) property, and the remaining dementia levels can be addressed locally,” Bakaly said.
He added that the proposed Sunrise complex will accommodate couples, with one living in assisted living and the other in independent living, for example.
“That’s the holistic approach,” he said.
What if the BCHD campus offered all levels of care?
“Yes, that’s why we initially were attracted to the Continental/Mar Ventures proposal,” Bakaly said. “But once we got into it, it was too complex, disparate, uncertain. I’m not sure they could ever get it done.”
Shook suggests that Continental/Mar Ventures deal would offer variety.
“There is a Sunrise in Hermosa and Manhattan Beach. Do you need a third Sunrise? Bring in Merrill Gardens, give people that choice,” he said.
“We’d like to work collaboratively to solve this problem.” ER
