Ecumen Names Two New Business Development Directors

Ecumen has named two new Business Development Directors as the company rapidly expands its housing portfolio.

Ecumen has named two new Business Development Directors as the company rapidly expands its housing portfolio.

Anne Stanfield, formerly of Target, and Mark Lucas, formerly of Brighton Development and the Platinum Group, have joined Ecumen as it expands its owned and managed communities, redesigns and repositions some existing sites and pursues new ventures such as cooperative senior housing.

Stanfield, who is both trained as an architect and has an MBA, most recently has led projects focused on designing spaces to improve the customer experience. She was a Group Manager for Architecture at Target, where she directed architectural design work at Target stores.

In addition to working in the retail sector, Stanfield did residential design earlier in her career and has also worked as a financial analyst. She has a Master of Architecture from the University of California-Los Angeles, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management, and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Duke University.

Lucas has worked most recently on the development of complex mixed-use housing and office properties, with a focus on the Mill District in downtown Minneapolis. He also brings the perspective of working as a consultant to business owners in transition, providing a breadth of management services including strategic planning, marketing and business development. 

Earlier in his career, Lucas held brand and product management positions at several top corporations including General Mills, Nordstrom, Room & Board, and Boston Scientific.  He has a Master of Business Administration from the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management and a Bachelor of Arts from Haverford College.

“This is an exciting time of growth and innovation at Ecumen,” said Julie Murray, Ecumen Chief Business Development Officer and SVP of Sales and Marketing. “We are fortunate to have the talent and experience of people like Mark and Anne to help guide our growth.” 

Some of Ecumen’s current projects include:

  • Abiitan Mill City, the first senior housing complex in Downtown Minneapolis on one of the last open parcels of land in the Mill District. Abiitan, now under construction and scheduled to open in the fall of 2016, is a rental community with an entrance deposit, which is fully refundable when residents move out. 
  • Zvago Glen Lake Cooperative, a new senior housing co-op planned for the north shore of Glen Lake in Minnetonka. It is Ecumen’s first senior cooperative project and is being marketed to active adults 55 and older.  Senior cooperatives are communities where residents buy shares of the corporation that owns the building — an ownership structure that offers the tax advantages of home ownership as well as a say in the building's management.  Construction on the 54-unit co-op is expected to start this fall and be open in the fall of 2016.
  • In partnership with Rose Senior Living, three new senior communities are being developed in Avon, Ohio, near a Cleveland Clinic hospital; in Novi, Mich., on the St. John Providence Hospital campus; and in Carmel, Ind., near St. Vincent’s Hospital. They are strategically located in walking distance to health care, retail and entertainment venues in upscale areas near Cleveland, Detroit and Indianapolis.
  • With Luther Seminary, Ecumen has begun planning a senior housing development on the seminary’s 37-acre Saint Anthony Park campus in Northwest Saint Paul. The two nonprofits signed a nonbinding letter of intent to start work on the development, which could include senior housing co-ops, rentals with assisted living and memory care, and some income-restricted rentals. The project is still in the early planning stages but expectations are that work could begin as soon as next year on a five-acre area of the seminary’s lower campus.

Ecumen, based in Shoreview, Minn., is one of the nation’s top 20 largest non-profit providers of senior housing and aging services, operating in 38 cities in Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Michigan, Idaho and Tennessee, providing a variety of senior housing options and services including independent living, assisted living and long-term care communities as well as at-home and community-based services.

Related articles:

Ground Is Broken and Construction Begins on Ecumen’s Abiitan Mill City in Downtown Minneapolis

Sales Office Now Open for Zvago Glen Lake Co-op in Minnetonka

Ecumen and Luther Seminary Plan Senior Housing on St. Anthony Park Campus