When Patrick Stonich and Joseph Motto became friends more than 10 years ago, they discovered a common bond – their fathers were both ill and were not getting what they thought was proper care.
When Patrick Stonich and Joseph Motto became friends more than 10 years ago, they discovered a common bond – their fathers were both ill and were not getting what they thought was proper care.
So Stonich, a Registered Nurse, and Motto, a Temple business graduate, opened a home-care business in 2005 in Philadelphia. A decade later, after identifying a need in the region, they are planning something much more ambitious in the Lehigh Valley.
The two are developing what is planned to be a nearly $15 million, 17-building campus on 38 acres in North Whitehall Township dedicated to personal and health care. Included are twin 24-bed personal care homes and buildings for assisted living, short-term rehabilitation, dementia, Alzheimer’s and inpatient pediatric and adult hospice – as well as a health and wellness community center.
The foundation on the property is the former Parkland Manor personal care home, which Stonich and Motto bought this month after operating the facility for about two years. But the home, now called At Home Inc., is only the beginning of what the two hope will become a thriving care community with hundreds of employees.
“It’s very fulfilling,” said Stonich, the CEO. “I take it as my responsibility.”
In 2013, Stonich and Motto were hired to run Parkland Manor, then owned by Abe Atiyeh, who also owns Saucon Valley Manor and Whitehall Manor. After signing a five-year lease with Atiyeh and a year of making their own renovations to the property, Stonich and Motto decided to pursue its purchase.
They bought it from Atiyeh on Jan. 9 for $2.4 million, and the pair gained a property already zoned for the expansion they desire.
Construction is projected to begin in June on the first four buildings, which will each be 500-square-foot units with 24 beds. The first building – an inpatient pediatric and adult hospice unit – will take about five months to complete.
The next three buildings will be constructed in succession with a target completion of spring 2017. They will become units for assisted living, short term rehabilitation and dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Stonich, 38, and Motto, 43, hired MKSD LLC of South Whitehall Township as the architect and Serfass Construction of North Whitehall Township as the builder.
