By Sara Beth Williams–
Eight years after building permits were issued for the project, construction fencing still surrounds a planned 40,000-square-foot acute care nursing facility off Dewey Drive on the border of Citrus Heights.
Multiple residents who live nearby the building have reported to The Sentinel that the facility appears to have been nearly complete for several years, yet the premises remains closed. Prior reports indicate the property was under construction in May of 2020, with construction continuing during the pandemic.
A visit to the facility in April by Sentinel staff found construction fencing blocking off two driveway entrances to the facility while the outside of the building and the grounds appeared well-maintained. Signage with the name and address has been erected in front of the building, but no opening date has been posted.
Due to irregular boundary lines, the nursing facility, called Shadowbrook Gardens, is technically located outside the boundary of Citrus Heights at 5915 Dewey Drive, in Fair Oaks.
Although parcels on either side of the facility are located in Citrus Heights, county documents show the facility itself sits on a narrow finger of land that puts it in an unincorporated part of Sacramento County. Because the property is in Fair Oaks, building permits are not issued by the City of Citrus Heights.
In the case of nursing facilities, building permits are also not issued by Sacramento County, but by the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI), according to Eric Stackhouse, Associate Planner with Sacramento County Planning and Environmental Review.
Building permits for Shadowbrook Gardens were first issued in April of 2016 by the HCAI, according to project details listed on the department’s website.
Andrew Diluccia, public information officer with the Department of Healthcare Access and Information told The Sentinel that, as of an April 17 inspection by HCAI, construction is “90 percent complete.”
Owner Shyrel Gaskey with Auburn Manor Holding Corporation previously spoke to The Sentinel in 2020 regarding construction progress, and said the building is to be used as an acute rehabilitation facility for patients discharged from area hospitals. Plan documents on the Department of Health Care Access and Information website are consistent with Gaskey’s statement, indicating the facility is an acute care hospital building.
Gaskey told the Citrus Heights Messenger in January that the building was targeting a date in March 2024 to be ready for occupancy, but added it could take a few months longer for the project to be signed off. Gaskey also said in January that an agreement for the operator to run the new facility was continuing and yet to be finalized. Multiple attempts by The Sentinel to reach Gaskey for comment went unanswered.
Project documents show the facility will have space for dining, kitchen, and physical therapy. Currently, there are two entrance points from Dewey Drive and another access point off Shadowbrook Way.
Prior use for the 3.8-acre parcel was residential, according to a county staff report that describes a single-family home on the property built in 1952.
Mike Hazlip contributed to this story.
