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The Village is at 3920 198th St., which is known as the Old Bradshaw Elementary School site.

Groundbreaking is Wednesday, and Jesperson said he expects The Village to be finished by April 2019.

What makes The Village different from traditional nursing homes ... is that residents will be able to shop, have a coffee, walk their dog, get their hair cut and take part in activities such as gardening by themselves

“What makes The Village different from traditional nursing homes … is that residents will be able to shop, have a coffee, walk their dog, get their hair cut and take part in activities such as gardening by themselves,” Jespersen said.

Three of the cottages will be designed to allow a couple to live together, and the other three will have an extra guest room for short-term stays for people with dementia.

Living in the privately funded project won’t be cheap. Jespersen said he is still working on final numbers, but he estimates it will cost between $190 to $245 a day per person, or $6,000 to $7,500 a month.

“People will say that’s a lot of money, and it absolutely is a lot of money,” he said. “It’s about the same amount of money we would get from the government if the government funded us to provide care. That’s what it costs to do what we’re doing.”

Jespersen said The Village would be open to working with government to make it more affordable to people so that there is a real community of people of different income levels.

It's about the same amount of money we would get from the government if the government funded us to provide care. That's what it costs to do what we're doing

The world’s first “dementia village” is Hogeweyk outside of Amsterdam, where 152 people live in 23 houses on 3.7 acres. Residents can walk the streets, squares and gardens and go to a theatre and grocery store.

In Hogeweyk, the buildings are designed so they create a border that allows residents to wander safely within the property. Access is controlled by a single entry and exit.