Best CCRC of 2025: Local Charm Meets Senior Living 

Aging Well: News & Insights for Seniors and Caregivers

The backers of Hayes Barton Place in Raleigh, North Carolina, sought to blend nostalgic charm with modern senior living inside the city’s beltline. They achieved that partly by drawing inspiration from the surrounding area.

The result is a walkable continuing care retirement community (CCRC) that connects to a variety of sought after destinations meant to enrich residents’ lives, including coffee shops, places of worship and museums.

The community represents the end of a process that took over a decade. Wilmington, North Carolina-based owner Liberty Senior Living had been in talks for the land that would become Hayes Barton Place for roughly 12 years, according to President Will Purvis.

“We noticed a strong need inside the beltline, there hadn’t been anything built there in a long time,” Purvis told Senior Housing News.

The community set out with a primary point of inspiration: The Carolina Inn, located in the neighboring Chapel Hill, which features a brick structure that is known to the surrounding community. Drawing further inspiration from the classic Georgian style homes surrounding it, Hayes Barton Place features red brick facades, gabled roofs and stately columns and interiors that emphasize open layouts and natural light.

The project planners took cues from the old part of Raleigh inside the city’s beltline, according to Chris Boney, chief strategy officer LS3P, the architecture firm that worked with Liberty Senior Living to design the community.

“The old Raleigh neighborhoods, which are beautiful, didn’t have anywhere with the level of service and quality that many of our friends and neighbors in the Raleigh area were looking for,” Boney said. “It was a really great opportunity.”

Among inspired exteriors, detailed interior finishings and a plethora of wellness options, Hayes Barton Place received the first place award in the 2025 Senior Housing News Architecture & Design Awards category for “Best CCRC.”

The concept

Liberty Senior Living began its inquiry into the property where Hayes Barton Place would exist in 2010 knowing it would be close to the company’s headquarters and it would be a high demand area in the coming years. After acquiring the land, Liberty Senior Living took on five acres of a 21-acre site that is still being actively developed, according to Development Director Thaddeus Moore. Planning began around 2019, before the site was fully acquired.

Planning for Hayes Barton Place took around three years before work on the site began. During that time, LS3P conducted a deep dive into the history of the “research triangle” of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill metropolitan area so the community could be a place that would serve as a cultural touchstone for the residents that would be going there, Boney said. The research included developing a visual palette of the area’s iconic buildings, landmarks, landscapes and urban areas that could be impactful to the neighboring areas.

The community had its share of challenges during planning. The parcel of land the community is located on is in the middle of a residential section of Raleigh and according to Moore, there hadn’t been anything developed of its scale in some time. To continue being a “good neighbor” to the area, Boney noted the community’s healthcare wing had been scaled down to three stories, all parking was buried below the building and a tree line was preserved between Hayes Barton Place and an adjacent middle school.

What helped was all partners involved in the project, including LS3P and contractor Brasfield & Gorrie, “being in lockstep” with each other throughout the process, according to Purvis.

“Liberty was very intentional about reaching out to the neighbors in the community in Raleigh to get their input and feedback as we went through the process,” Boney said. “This informed the overall design in lots of small ways and in some larger ways.”

Among the changes coming from community feedback were amenity packages, which now includes a clubhouse, outdoor bar and dining venue, full-service spa, movie theater and various activity areas such as pickleball, bocce and croquet, and the outdoor spaces were developed alongside community input.

The construction

Workers began site work for Hayes Barton Place in the spring of 2022, and the community celebrated its formal groundbreaking in September of that year. The independent living portion of the community was delivered in January 2025, followed shortly after by its healthcare offerings with assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing.

Liberty Senior Living did not disclose the total amount budgeted for the project but Purvis noted it was delivered both on time and on budget.

While there were no major changes that took place during construction, there were several additions, including a mezzanine parking level in its parking podium and the now resident favorite outdoor bar and dining venue.

Due to the level of upfront planning that took place, Hayes Barton Place’s construction “flowed relatively seamlessly” throughout the process according to Boney.

The completion

With the community completing on time, Boney said it exceeded expectations from where designing it began.

“As an architect, you always have a concept of where the project will go and what it will look like. In this case, however, the result was better than what I had imagined,” he said. “The scale of the project, the feel of the project and the fit and finish of the final result is truly excellent, and something that I’m very proud of and that our team was very proud of.”

And according to Moore, in the 21 years he’s spent developing real estate, he hasn’t seen a site like this one.

The community leased up quickly following its initial announcement. According to Purvis, by January 2025 it was 75% reserved and by January 2026 was fully occupied.

Among the other successes for the community comes from its overall sense of decoration. Inside are around 25 original pieces of art from North Carolina artists featured in the residential clubhouse and residential floors.

While the community is currently full, it hasn’t stopped future residents from putting themselves on a waiting list that has grown to over 800, according to Purvis.

Future additions are planned for Hayes Barton Place to further expand its offerings. A detached 24-unit large home style independent living offering is under development at present for residents who want to be more independent from the community itself, which are fully reserved and set to deliver this summer. Purvis added additional development will take place on the site, but planning has not begun yet. 

Judges were impressed with the community’s luxurious design and how its exterior design was executed, particularly with tying it into the surrounding area’s history.

“Beautifully executed interiors. Exterior elevations offer a traditional style with wonderful courtyards and exterior spaces,” wrote judge LuAnn Holec.

“Winning design and complimentary interior finishes. A complete package,” judge Ric D’Amico wrote.

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