About a mile west of the post office on the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road, a new neighborhood is taking shape with a $68 million nursing home at its heart.

Navigator Homes of Martha’s Vineyard will provide skilled nursing and rehabilitation care in five single-story buildings, with a total of 66 patients in private suites.

In front of and behind the Navigator complex, Martha’s Vineyard Hospital is building 48 housing units with 76 bedrooms for nursing home staffers, hospital employees and their families. 

Push-button traffic signals have already been installed for a crosswalk between the nearest bus stops on Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road, anticipating the future neighborhood’s need for public transportation.

The project was approved by the MVC in 2022.

Ray Ewing

The project was approved by the MVC in 2022.

Ray Ewing

Residents of the workforce housing are expected to begin moving in this summer, Martha’s Vineyard Hospital chief administrative officer Michael Cosgrave told the Gazette.

Navigator Homes will need more time to be ready for occupancy, said Polly Brown, treasurer of Navigator Homes of Martha’s Vineyard, the Island nonprofit developing the nursing home.

“The buildings should be completed in October, but then we need to furnish them, and then we need to staff them,” Ms. Brown said, during a tour of the construction site last month.

Navigator also must pass an extensive inspection by the state Department of Public Health before it is able to welcome patients, said Melinda Loberg, the organization’s clerk.

There’s already a waiting list for Navigator Homes, which will be the Island’s first care facility to follow the Green House Model of Nursing Home Care.

Developed more than 20 years ago by a Maryland nonprofit and now found in hundreds of locations in the U.S. and Australia, the Green House model focuses on groups of self-contained buildings where patients receive individual skilled nursing care within a communal, home-like setting.

The closest Green House nursing home to the Vineyard is in East Greenwich, R.I. 

At Navigator Homes in Edgartown, the five buildings surround a central green space, where landscaping plans include walking paths connecting the residences.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is financing the buildings’ construction, but Navigator Homes will need to raise more money to complete this outdoor area, Ms. Brown said during a tour of the site last month.

Inside, the Navigator buildings have large open kitchens, communal dining tables and living rooms with electric hearths. Natural light from high windows brightens the common areas.

The kitchens include wheelchair-accessible counters for residents in chairs who want to take part in preparing meals, project manager Mark Nicotera said.

Outdoor porches and window-lined day rooms provide other gathering places, and a room called “the Den” can double as emergency accommodations for family members visiting from off-Island, Mr. Nicotera said.

There’s also a beauty parlor/barbershop and a therapy room with a walk-in tub, among other amenities still being installed. 

The nursing home and workforce housing project is located on Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road.

Ray Ewing

The nursing home and workforce housing project is located on Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road.

Ray Ewing

Each individual bedroom suite has an exterior window and a built-in ceiling track leading to the bathroom, for a mechanical lift if the patient should need it.

A safe in the wall will hold the patient’s personal medications, Mr. Nicotera said.

Apart from these fixtures, he said, patients may furnish their rooms any way they like.

“Pretty much the only furniture you can’t bring is the bed,” Mr. Nicotera said. “It has to be a hospital-type bed.”

Each Navigator building will operate autonomously, with its own nursing staff and a governance model allowing residents to vote on such matters as whether a pet is allowed.

Once Navigator Homes is up and running, Windemere, the skilled nursing home at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, is set to close down so the hospital can expand into its space.

Windemere patients will have the option to transfer to Navigator if they wish, Ms. Loberg said.

The new nursing home will accept patients with Medicare or Medicaid as well as those with private insurance, Ms. Brown said.

Navigator will have 66 private suites for residents.

Ray Ewing

Navigator will have 66 private suites for residents.

Ray Ewing

“It’s not just for the rich,” she said.

It’s also not an assisted living facility, Ms. Brown added. Patients must have a medical reason to be there, such as recovering from major surgery or living with dementia.

Martha’s Vineyard Hospital initially bought the 28-acre Edgartown property in 2021 and received Martha’s Vineyard Commission approval in 2022 to develop the nursing home and workforce housing.

Last year, the hospital transferred ownership of the nursing home land to Navigator Homes, which broke ground on the project in August.

The hospital itself is building four duplexes facing Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road, with 16 bedrooms in the eight dwelling units. 

Behind Navigator Homes, a townhouse with eight units and 20 bedrooms is flanked by two apartment buildings, each with 16 units and 20 bedrooms.

The duplex buildings will be clad in cedar shingles, Mr. Cosgrave told the Gazette, and the townhouse and apartment buildings will have gray shingle siding to match the nursing home.

The housing development will have 86 parking spaces and 14 chargers for electric vehicles, Mr. Cosgrave said.

The hospital also has engaged with Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation to develop a public walking trail along the back of the land, on the far side from the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road, that will connect with other trails in the area, Mr. Nicotera told the Gazette.