At Cornerstone Village, residents reach across the age gap

On the patio and in the green space outside, it was a quiet August evening. But inside, the community room was filled with cheerful noise as a few dozen people sat around tables joking, chatting and occasionally yelling "Bingo!"

As usual, the weekly bingo night at Bethesda Cornerstone Village in Victoria was well attended, with some players who were upward of 55 years old and some who were decades younger.

Young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and seniors, two groups that often live in housing that's separate from other members of their communities, live side by side in Cornerstone Village, a cluster of apartments and townhouses that the nonprofit Bethesda operates in a residential neighborhood in Victoria.

It's the first housing development in the country that deliberately brings together residents with developmental disabilities and people over 55, according to Tom Campbell, Bethesda's vice president of real estate development. It's a model the faith-based Watertown, Wis., organization plans to replicate elsewhere.

Residents have their own apartments, but mingle in common areas for games, parties, craft nights, Bible studies and walking clubs. Or they just sit down together for casual conversation.

"We're taking the apartment home concept and creating community — that's the difference, the community aspect," Campbell said.

Cornerstone occupies a site that once housed several dozen people with disabilities in a single building. Such institutionalized settings were replaced decades ago with group homes in residential areas, but often residents are "still segregated in that group home," Campbell said.

At Cornerstone, regular group activities help form and solidify connections among the residents, he said. And they interact with people from outside the development, too — block parties featuring bands and food trucks have attracted up to 150 people who live elsewhere, he said.

The model is also designed for safety, Campbell said. Apartments are equipped with technology that allows family members to check on their loved ones remotely and make sure doors are locked, thermostats set appropriately and medications taken on schedule.

So far, 44 residents occupy 33 units, some with roommates or spouses. Campbell said he expects the complex to be full "by the time the snow flies." By early 2022, Bethesda plans to break ground on a similar development in Oakdale, and is looking ahead to sites in Brooklyn Park and Cottage Grove.

As part of the model, younger residents — who typically work part time or not at all — receive subsidies, said Julie Hughes, Cornerstone's on-site leasing and program manager. There's a level of security for younger people who may not have lived on their own before, but also the freedom to set their own schedules and activities.

"This place is awesome," said Leif Ewald, 22. He moved from a home for people on the autism spectrum, where residents were closely supervised and expected to participate in arranged group events.

His former home "was too much about the 'on the spectrum' thing — that was the vibe," Ewald said. It felt patronizing.

"Like, dude, yeah, I'm on the spectrum, but there's more to me than that," he said. "I want to just chill in my apartment if I can. I want to be treated like a human being."

Now Ewald can bike into town or to church, come home from his job at Goodwill Industries and play his guitar (he favors Christian music and songs by the band Green Day) or relax with a beer and a Netflix show.

Independence is also important to Hanna Dryden, 25, who moved to Cornerstone in September from her family's home in Edina. Now she lives with a friend, works three days a week at Fraser, a mental health service, and takes walks around the neighborhood on nice days.

"I've taken a bus to Target for groceries on my own to practice independence," Dryden said. "Shopping on my own is more of a new independent thing for me."

Patti Van Arsdale of Chaska is the mother of Jeremy and Ryan Van Arsdale, twins who moved from her home to share an apartment at Cornerstone. Both have high-functioning autism; at 25, they're living on their own for the first time and "they love it," she said.

"I wasn't sure how this was going to go," she said. But her sons adjusted quickly, spending more time socializing, walking, learning new skills together — and less time playing video games.

"I want them to be set up where they can live independently," Van Arsdale said. "If something were to happen to me, they are good to go."

For the complex's older residents, the arrangement offers a chance to get acquainted with young people who've had experiences that might be unfamiliar.

"I felt like, 'Hey, this is a place I get to be a grandfather again,' " said Curt Schiebel, 77, noting that he also has his own grandchildren.

Schiebel, who moved to Cornerstone from Chanhassen, likes attending the area's town-team baseball games. He noticed that nobody hands out programs at the games, and hopes to get some of his young neighbors to help print out and distribute programs. He'd even like to invite the Victoria team to visit Cornerstone when the season ends.

Residents seem eager to reach across the age line, do things together and get to know each other, Schiebel said.

"That's part of the real-life thing," he said. "Not everybody likes baseball, not everybody likes guitar. But we all love one another."

Katy Read • 612-673-4583