Midwest senior living and care construction companies DBS Group and Community Living Solutions are set to merge, effective July 1.

Community Living Solutions is well-known and will be known as Community Living Solutions – A Division of DBS Group following the merger, DBS Group President Chris Walters told the McKnight’s Business Daily. 

“We design and build projects all across the Upper Midwest,” he said.

DBS Group is a design-build construction manager and general contractor based in Onalaska, WI, and Rochester, MN. CLS specializes in planning, design, architecture and construction working exclusively for senior living and care communities. 

The merger will allow the DBS to expand its footprint to CLS’ offices in Des Moines, IA, Minneapolis and Appleton, WI, Walters said. 

CLS will maintain its current staff as it becomes a division of DBS, with one exception, according to Walters. He said that Tom Martin, one of the founders and the president of Community Living Solutions, has been planning to retire and will exit the company when the merger is completed. Walters will be president of the entire organization.

“By joining forces with DBS Group, we are ensuring that commitment continues — with even greater resources and expanded capabilities to support our customers and their future needs,” Martin said.

“We have the capability of the full continuum of care. It’s really based upon what the customer needs and wants are for their specific facility,” Walters said. “And then we’re able to provide master planning, design, architecture and construction services to meet their needs.”

Recently, he said, DBS completed a 60-united assisted living community in Holmen, WI, and a 40-unit assisted living community in North Branch, MN.

The company has broken ground on an expansion project in Austin, MN, that is for Sacred Heart Care Center. The expansions include a skilled nursing component, assisted living and an adult day center, Walters said. The project should be completed within the next 12 to 14 months, he said.

“There are a couple of other large projects that are in the works that we’ll kick off design on this fall as well,” Walters said. 

For those, the company will lean into CLS being a division of DBS Group, he said.

“We can really leverage their capabilities and experience with the resources that we have in-house to really provide a really great experience for the owners and the operators that we’re working with,” Walters said.