REAL ESTATE · 12

Balfour at Palisades: A New Standard in Senior Living

BY GEORGETOWN MEDIA GROUP

A successful career as CEO of National Jewish Hospital and government nursing home regulator didn’t come close to preparing Michael Schonbrun for the challenges of relocating his then recently widowed mother Madeline from the family’s NYC apartment to senior living. The lessons learned from that journey is the “origin story” behind the soonto-be-built Balfour at Palisades.

“Quality is our standard” says Schonbrun, CEO of Balfour Senior Living, a collection of boutique senior living communities. “My mother’s joie de vivre and life-long appreciation for the finer things in life have inspired us to meet her high standards in creating beautiful communities and a lifestyle that fulfills and delights our residents.”

Founded 23 years ago, Balfour Senior Living is a Colorado-based company that started small by design and is now expanding its luxury boutique footprint to East Coast markets. It currently has 11 locations -- ten in Colorado and one in Michigan and its Washington, D.C. and Brookline, MA communities are expected to deliver in 2023. “We’re not looking to be the biggest,” explains Susan Juroe, the company’s Co-founder, and General Counsel. “Our goal is to be the best and most admired in our category by creating unique environments that enrich the lives of the people who live and work there. We also feel strongly about offering our residents a beautiful and compelling destination where their friends and families can also enjoy Balfour’s amenities and hospitality.”

The architecture of Balfour at Palisades was informed by local art deco landmarks -- the neighborhood’s Glen Echo Amusement Park, MacArthur Theater, and the glamourous residential buildings of that era such as the Kennedy-Warren. Balfour partnered with the local developer Trammell Crow, awardwinning architecture firm Perkins Eastman which brought the stylized art deco design to life, and NYC design firm Pembrooke and Ives who brought best-in-class residential design

Michael Schonbrun and Susan Juroe

The Balfour at Palisades community spaces feature exceptional quality architecture, décor and art where future residents can proudly welcome their families and friends. The bar evokes the mood of some of D.C.’s iconic clubs and restaurants. The Great Room has immediate access to a lushly landscaped outdoor courtyard. NYC design firm Pembrooke & Ives and local developer Trammel Crow collaborated with Balfour on the 138-unit building featuring penthouses, a swimming pool, theatre and no large buy-in fees.

experience and made them ideal collaborators for this project.

Balfour at Palisades will feature 138 apartment homes with a variety of floor plans, including studios, one- and two-bedrooms, one bedroom with dens and one- and twobedroom penthouse apartments. Of these, ten units are part of D.C.’s Inclusionary Zoning program and are income restricted. Residents will have the convenience of a range of services centered around their lifestyle and needs from independent living to assisted living, and memory care. The amenities include seasonally inspired culinary offerings at breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days a week in three dining venues, indoor saltwater pool, sauna, fitness center and yoga studio, hair salon, theatre, a library, bar, housekeeping and home maintenance services, valet parking for residents and their guests, reserved covered parking, rooftop access and a Tesla fleet staffed with Balfour drivers to meet scheduled or spontaneous local transportation needs.

Balfour’s model does not have a large “buyin” fee, instead charging monthly rent plus a la carte levels of care when or if needed. It’s a model that requires Balfour to “earn your trust every day” and allow for flexibility should a relocation or changed life circumstances arise. Additionally, couples can stay together with care brought into their apartment home if needed.

For Michael Schonbrun and his partner Susan Juroe, a Georgetown resident for 20 years, Balfour represents a personal calling. “We wanted to create places where residents can welcome their friends and families and enjoy wonderful experiences together. The Palisades is designed for ease of living and engagement within and beyond our community. Residents can enjoy all that the Palisades neighborhood offers -- only steps away from their front door -- and all that the Washington, D.C. area has to offer.” Another plus: Balfour is pet friendly. Residents can move in with their pets and it’s common for some “pet-less” residents to adopt pets after they’ve settled in. Balfour at Palisades will feature an indoor off-leash pet park and a pet grooming station.

The “silver tsunami” is nowhere close to cresting according to AARP and other senior advocacy groups. Baby Boomers (sorry, Millennials!) are still making their influence known in all sorts of ways. “To be honest, we designed Balfour for ourselves. And for Madeline, of course!” Michael admits. “We thought seriously of what we would like and need to feel comfortable, what it meant to feel at home and have that pride of place -- that’s something we’re always working on.” Susan adds, “We’re also mindful of the challenges people are facing as they age. Loneliness, depression, and lack of physical, mental, and emotional stimulation are real health hazards. At Balfour, we’re creating communities where everyone can feel valued and welcome and are free to discover new interests and friendships.”

Balfour at Palisades will be located at 4865 MacArthur Blvd NW, D.C. 20007 and is expected to open in 2023. The leasing center address is 4418 MacArthur Blvd., NW. For more details or to schedule a meeting at their leasing center contact Eileen Alexander, Executive Director, ealexander@balfourcare. com, 202.845.4856 or Cynthia McKee, Preleasing Director, cmckee@balfourcare. com, 202.941.4617. For more information about Balfour Senior Living, visit balfourcare. com or call 844.354.8877.

With Some Puck, Our Holidays Light Up

BY ROBERT DEVANEY

“If we want the neighborhood to be interested in us, we have to be interested in the neighborhood,” says Wolfgang Puck, the celebrity chef name behind Cut, the restaurant in the luxe Rosewood Hotel on 31st Street next to the C&O Canal. “I like that it’s small, intimate.”

That’s coming from the 72-year-old charismatic chef, whose family name evokes a merry sprite and whose restaurant and catering empire, cofounded with then-wife Barbara Lazaroff, has 5,000 employees. With an estimated net worth of $90-120 million, according to reports, Puck ranks number six on the richest celebrity chef list. But who’s counting?

Georgetown’s Cut is the fifth location of Puck’s more-than-a-steakhouse concept that also features fish and vegetable dishes. Here, his positivity and personality are on display, where we met him for another interview.

Puck is one of the first celebrity chefs — known around the world for his nouvelle California and fusion culinary innovations — whose life began in a small village in Austria. With his mother Maria as a baker, he began cooking at 14. Puck says he didn’t have a great childhood. Still, he stuck it out and followed his dream, which “may have been more like an escape,” he adds. “The tough part was that my stepfather was totally crazy and always told me I was good for nothing. He beat up me and my sister. The first 18 years were the hardest. After that, it started to get better.”

At 19, Puck found his mentor — Raymond Thuilier at L’Oustau de Baumanière in Les Baux-de-Provence. “It changed my life,” Puck says. “There I found my mentor … the way they cooked, took care of the customer, their hospitality.” He also got a sense of the celebrity restaurant — Marcello Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve — but for Puck, it was the way they cooked. “For me, it was elevation … I got passionate,” he recalls. Thuilier acknowledged he was doing a good job. “He was the first one to make me feel good about what I was doing.”

At 20, he was working a one-star kitchen restaurant. After Hôtel de Paris in Monaco, and Maxim’s Paris, Puck moved to the United States in 1973 at age 24.

Those early years are covered in the Disney documentary, “Wolfgang,” released this summer. His is truly a rags-to-riches story for this persevering Austrian-American. “If Wolf can do it, you can, too.”

In Los Angeles, Puck says, “I started at Ma Maison — my first paycheck bounced.” He made a deal with the owner to get eight percent of the business with less money. Guests included Orson Welles, Billy Wilder and Joan Collins. “It was an amazing place. Jack Nicholson and Roman Polanski hung out

Wolfpuck Puck and his wife, Gelila Assefa, at Cut restaurant at the Rosewood Hotel in Georgetown last month. Photo by Robert Devaney.

all the time. Orson came for lunch every day.”

In 1982, Puck opened Spago — its apt meaning, a string with no beginning or end — and attracted a similar celebrity clientele. “I knew lot of those people,” he says. It was one of the first with an open kitchen — then a Spago in Tokyo and Chinois in Santa Monica. Now, the Wolf Puck company boasts more than 25 restaurants, several lounges and many Kitchens at airports, even at a few hospitals. Last month, Puck catered the wedding of Paris Hilton and Carter Reum.

During our interview, we met Puck’s wife, Gelila Assefa, a fashion designer who also works on the company’s creative branding — from the grocery store line to fine dining. (They married in 2007 in Capri and have two sons together.)

She had been out being a tourist in D.C. “I like the Capitol and more of the political history,” Assefa says. “Last night, we went to the French ambassador’s residence.” They also went to lunch at Fiola Mare. “I like to take walks down at the water,” Puck adds. It’s particularly nice when the leaves are changing.”

And favorite activities during the holidays? “I love to ski during Christmastime,” Puck says. His wife, who grew up in Ethiopia, tried it but adds she would “rather be in the spa area.” For her, the best Christmas is quiet time at home. “Christmas Eve dinner I like that a lot,” Assefa says. “I think Christmas is where the family is.”

“For me, Christmas was the most important holiday,” Puck says. “My mother used to bake cookies and hide them. The whole house smelled of cookies … And then, someone from the church walked through the village with incense.” Along with that, images of snow and candles linger.

“This year, the celebrations will be bigger. Restaurants are doing better than in 2019,” says Puck who worked on a president’s council last year advocating for policy changes in business interruption insurance. “The pandemic was a hard time because we didn’t know when it would end.”

At Georgetown’s Cut, the going was even tougher. The restaurant opened in 2019, and then a fire in the kitchen closed it for nine months — and then the pandemic. Today, the place is doing a brisk business. “I have a lot of people with me for many years,” says Puck, who praises Cut’s executive chef, Andrew Skala. “I love to challenge the chefs. I want them to be creative. They have to be excited. It’s important to be inspired.”

At Cut, the most popular cut is “the dry-aged, boney New York,” Puck says. “And a lot of tomahawk steak — we try to get people to share. It is a better dining experience if you share.”

As for Puck’s management style, he says: “I treat people the way I like to be treated.