John Lape, founder and owner of John Lape Architect, a Spokane firm that specializes in designing retirement-living centers, says his firm's flexibility in designing projects of various sizes and its focus on the West have helped it endure during the recession.

The firm recently landed new clients for retirement projects in Portland and San Diego, and it is working on a $10 million-plus project in Arizona, Lape says. Smaller jobs, however, such as a $750,000 assisted-living center planned in Woodburn, Ore., are becoming more common as developers of retirement facilities are finding it difficult to obtain financing for larger projects, he says.

"In our business, there is work out there," he says. "You've got to adjust to what work there is."

Closer to home, Lape designed a recently completed remodeling project at Sullivan Park Care Center, a skilled-nursing facility in Spokane Valley. In work not involving retirement projects, the firm also conducted a study of roofing conditions and needs for academic buildings and student housing on the Washington State University campus in Pullman.

"We're riding out the storm," he says.

Including Lape, the firm has two architects, down from a peak of seven architects a few years ago, Lape says. The staff reduction wasn't so much due to lack of work as to challenges in cash flow caused by peaks and valleys in the revenue stream, he says.

"We do a lot of work for developers, and they're hanging onto their dollars as long as they can," Lape says.

Last year, however, was a good year for the firm, he asserts.

"Sometimes project owners try to pay off our fees before the end of the year," Lape says. "That's good for the company one year, but it means it will be lean for us the following year."

The firm occupies about 2,000 square feet of space on the second floor of the Chase Financial Center, at 601 W. Main, where it has operated for about four years since moving from the Morgan Building, at 315 W. Riverside. Lape founded the firm in Portland, Ore., in 1988 and moved it here in 1994.

Lape says the firm didn't start out intending to specialize in retirement-related projects, but one of its first jobs was designing an assisted-living center.

"A couple of clients were getting into assisted living," Lape says. "I took on one project and thought it was a springboard to get started."

By the mid-1990s, senior-oriented projects were the firm's main focus, and they still make up about 75 percent of its total portfolio.

Lape says the firm's workload typically includes designing a couple of large complexes with construction values in the $10 million-to-$15 million range and a number of smaller projects. Large projects take four years to complete and usually are well under way or nearly complete before the firm gets paid, he says.

"A high percentage of our work is during construction," he says. "About 20 percent to 25 percent of our fee is for construction administration."

The firm charges its fees on a sliding scale, based on the number of living units in a project.

These days, lenders are reluctant to finance such projects, because they worry that seniors could have trouble selling their homes before they move into retirement communities, Lape says.

"Developers are frustrated they can't get bank loans," he says. "There are more projects under $1 million, because owners can self-finance that amount."

The size of a project doesn't correspond directly to the amount of work an architect has to put into the design, he says.

"Small projects require a lot of the same features that bigger jobs require," Lape says. "You have to respect and understand that this is the residents' environment 24/7. If a light switch is out of place, they will let you know about it."

Although larger retirement-center projects are harder to launch lately, the firm designed two such projects—the 135-unit Sea View Senior Living Community complex, in Brookings, Ore., and the 144-unit Emerald Retirement Community complex in Keizer, Ore.—both of which were built during the recession and are leasing well, he says.

"The needs of the senior population aren't going away, and the clients' desires aren't abating," Lape says.

The firm is licensed in nine Western states, and that allows it to draw from a large potential client base, he says.

"I've always envisioned a regional work base," Lape says.

He spends much of his time in the field, averaging 100 flights a year, he says.

"Clients have talked to me about getting to the East Coast," Lape says. "Presently, I'm resisting."

Almost all of the firm's business is derived through repeat customers and customer referrals, he says.

The concept of the senior living community evolves constantly, he says.

"There was a period when we did a lot of congregate," he says, referring to independent-living senior apartment communities that encourage social interaction and activities. "That fell out of favor. Operators saw more dollars in assisted-living and dementia care."

In many cases, retirement centers strive to provide a three-tiered approach, offering independent living, assisted living, and skilled-nursing care in separate wings. Under that approach, called continuum of care, seniors typically move to different types of quarters as they require higher levels of care, and such moves can be disruptive from the resident's point of view.

"Even if it's only 200 feet, it's still displacement," he says.

As designs continue to evolve, they should promote smoother transitions between levels of care, Lape says.

"There's a lot of emphasis on aging in place, but as an industry, we still have a long way to go," he says.