SEQUIM — The original independent-living retirement center in Sequim, The Fifth Avenue, is celebrating 25 years in business Thursday.
“It was built back when retirement centers were unheard of here,” said administrator Michelle Payton.
The 25th anniversary celebration will begin at
2 p.m. Thursday at the center, 500 W. Hendrickson Road, with “an elegant afternoon tea” serviced with music by the Morgan-Ellis String Quartet, horse-drawn carriage rides, tours, door prizes and gifts.
The first phase of what became the 71-unit center at the corner of West Hendrickson and North Fifth Avenue was finished and opened in 1986.
The $3 million project was built through a partnership of Robert Littlejohn — Sequim’s last country doctor to make house calls — his wife, Nan; son Bill and his wife, Esther; and Dr. Stan Berman and his wife, Jo.
The first phase was built for $2 million. The second phase cost $1 million.
Remains family-owned
Today, The Fifth Avenue employs 36 and remains family-owned. Payton has managed it for the past eight years.
“I have residents who have lived at The Fifth Avenue for 15 to 16 years,” Payton said, adding that she also has employees who have worked for the business between 15 and 23 years.
Bill Littlejohn still oversees his family’s investments in senior care and housing businesses, including The Lodge at Sherwood Village, which employs 48, and Sherwood Assisted Living, where a little more than 100 are employed.
Littlejohn, a lifetime Sequim resident, also owns Olympic Ambulance and Olympic Oxygen Services.
The Fifth Avenue offers private studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments with patios and balconies, and a variety of floor plans, ranging in size of up to 748 square feet, with amenities including a full-service dining room, beauty salon, transportation service to appointments, activities and an exercise program.
Robert Littlejohn, who died in 2007 at 88, developed one of the area’s first nursing homes in 1974 when he and other investors built the $2 million Sherwood Manor at 550 W. Hendrickson Road.
In 1968, the elder Littlejohn purchased 80 acres of land on Fifth Avenue between Hendrickson Road and Old Olympic Highway.
In 1973, he platted 60 acres for condominiums and 15 acres for service-related businesses.
In 1974, Sherwood Manor was developed as a 60-bed nursing home. Later, investors added 40 more units to the boarding wing of the home.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
