Work has started on the senior apartment and assisted-living complex Merrill Gardens, which expects to open next spring between First and Second streets southeast,

City officials say that between the Trek Apartment retail project on the former Cavanaugh block on East Main and the Merrill Gardens project, there will soon be 300-500 new residents downtown.

“It’s a testament to who we are that we are building a vibrant — and this is really important – multi-generational downtown. It’s for everyone,” Mayor Nancy Backus said at the groundbreaking last spring.

In 2007, the Economic Development Administration awarded the City of Auburn a $2.2 million federal grant and a $7.2 million local revitalization bond to upgrade streets, sidewalks and utilities to support such construction downtown.

Teutsch Partners LLC, the Seattle-based real estate development firm that owns the block, is going to build for Merrill Gardens a four-story retirement community, offering 111 assisted-living and 16 memory-care apartments.

Merrill Gardens will divide its 168,331 square feet of space between a below-grade parking level and three stories of memory-care units above ground, a mixture of one-bedroom, one-bath studio and two-bedroom, two-bath apartments.

Teutsch Partners, LLC is a privately-owned, regionally-focused, commercial real estate services and development company.

According to its website, Merrill Gardens, a privately-owned, family-run company, owns and operates 21 senior living communities in four states, with a focus on lifestyle. Each Merrill Gardens community is different in physical structure,

Renderings of Merrill Gardens at Auburn show a U-shaped building with a center-landscaped courtyard, part of the courtyard accessible to the public, facing South Division. One entrance will be off First Street Southeast, the second off Second Street Southeast.

David Eskenazy, president of Merrill Gardens, oversees its 28 communities.

“There are cities in this country that are very difficult to do business with, and then there are cities that make business happen. And it is a night-and-day experience, depending on which type of city you are dealing with, And it’s just amazing to see the progressive attitude and enthusiasm in the city of Auburn,” said Eskenazy.

“Get ready, it’s going to be a whirlwind,” Backus said. “Because when we have our new neighbors in here, you are going to see incredible things happening downtown. And we have no intention of stopping here.”