The folks at Wesley Homes Lea Hill retirement community broke ground Sept. 10 on a $6.6 million skilled nursing and rehabilitation center, launching a nine-month construction process that should end with an opening day in 2015.

Even though the capital campaign to pay for the state-of-the-art center on the Auburn campus is still $70,000 short of the $2 million needed to complete it, and the timelines to finish it are still tethered to those remaining funds.

Still, there was a party-like atmosphere under the hot September sky.

“These are dreams that happen because of hardworking people, and people who catch the vision of what we want to have here on Lea Hill,” David Snow, Wesley Homes Foundation director of campaigns, told supporters. “When we first began on Lea Hill, we always knew that we wanted to complete the continuum and build a health center here, and today we’re making that happen.”

Upon the project’s completion, Wesley Homes will be the only not-for-profit, continuing-care retirement community to offer independent housing, assisted living, memory care and other services in southeast King County. And that means that seniors who otherwise would have to seek such services away from Auburn will be able to spend the rest of their days here.

The 30,000-square-foot, 1½-floor care center is to feature a 36-private-room-and-bathroom design – offering privacy and dignity – and be Medicare/Medicaid certified and affordable, campaign officials said.

Wesley Homes had to raise the last $2 million of the project via philanthropic support from nearby communities such as Kent and Covington. By securing 30 percent of the capital expenses from private and public sources, Wesley Homes has been able to leverage otherwise absent dollars to finance the project, officials said. Donations have come largely from individuals, but many businesses and organizations have greatly contributed, too.

The campus may be in Auburn, but, officials say, the new health center will serve seniors throughout the area.

Board members project that at least 80 percent of those using the new health and rehab center will be from the surrounding communities, not just Lea Hill campus residents

The purpose of the expansion is to become an exemplary, affordable center, fit for the regional senior community.

“We’re committed to this community, committed to staying here and committed to being a part of it. It really is us wanting to say, ‘This Lea Hill health center is a health center for all of South King County,'” said Scott Hulet, administrator of the Wesley Homes Lea Hill campus.