A longtime Portland nursing home and rehabilitation center is closing this fall, but a new one is being built to take on all of its patients.

MaineHealth’s St. Joseph’s Rehabilitation and Residence – which dates to the 1970s – will be replaced by Fallbrook Commons, a new building nearby in north Portland. The newly constructed building on Merrymeeting Drive is completed, except for finishing touches like some interior painting and furnishings, with residents expected to move in in September, officials said.

“This project has always been a project about replacing St. Joe’s. It’s never been about closing St. Joe’s,” said Doug Gardner, vice president of development and operations for North Country Associates. North Country and Sandy River Company are a for-profit joint venture that will be operating Fallbrook Commons.

Fallbrook Commons, a new nursing/rehab center that will replace St. Joseph’s Rehabilitation and Residence, has three courtyards and indoor spaces with natural light, as well as two kitchens, a doctor’s office and other features designed to make it more home-like. Residents are expected to move in in September. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

Fallbrook Commons is a two-story, 56,000-square-foot facility that will serve 102 patients, with 26 private rooms, 12 corner suites with private living areas and a shared bathroom, and 26 semi-private rooms. All of the rooms at St. Joseph’s are semi-private rooms.

“We are trying to make it as home-like as possible, to de-institutionalize the facility as much as possible,” Gardner said.

Like St. Joseph’s, Fallbrook Commons will have a mix of long-term residents and short-term patients who need rehabilitation services, such as recovering from surgery.

Fallbrook Commons has three courtyards and indoor spaces with natural light, as well as two kitchens, a doctor’s office and other features.

MaineHealth took over St. Joseph’s in 2017 from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, which had operated the facility since the 1970s. MaineHealth does not currently have a plan for the St. Joseph’s building once it is vacated this fall.

One of the country-style kitchens at Fallbrook Commons. Dr. Richard Marino, medical director for MaineHealth Geriatrics Portland, said St. Joseph’s Rehabilitation and Residence is outdated and that the patient and residential experience at Fallbrook Commons will be much improved. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

St. Joseph’s took on dozens of extra patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, but recently has reduced the number of patients and now has just over 100. By the time the transition occurs this fall, the patient population at St. Joe’s should not exceed the capacity at Fallbrook Commons, hospital officials said.

The construction of a new nursing home/rehab center runs counter to the recent trend of nursing home closures without replacing capacity, resulting in access issues and causing hundreds of patients to stay in hospitals longer than needed while they wait for a bed to open up. Nine nursing homes have closed in Maine in recent years.

“Access is still limited and is surely anticipated to worsen as Maine’s older population continues to grow and facilities close due to underfunding,” said Ben Hawkins, spokesman for the Maine Health Care Association, which represents nursing homes before the Maine Legislature.

The Mills administration did release $30 million in one-time funding – to be paid to facilities later this summer – to assist nursing homes, said Angela Westhoff, president and CEO of the Maine Health Care Association.

Gardner said all but two MaineHealth employees are being offered jobs at Fallbrook Commons, and the two employees they weren’t able to take on are being offered jobs in the MaineHealth system.

Dr. Richard Marino, medical director for MaineHealth Geriatrics Portland, said St. Joseph’s is outdated and that the patient and residential experience at Fallbrook Commons will be much improved.

“St. Joe’s was an institutional model with a hospital-like setting, where Fallbrook Commons is built more like a home-like model,” Marino said. “It won’t have that industrial, sterile feel. There will be bookshelves, and the furniture will be more like furniture that you would see in a home.”