By Mary O’KEEFE

The National Charity League, Glendale Chapter has begun plans to return the Twelve Oaks property to an assisted living facility.

“Twelve Oaks Foundation has moved in a resident caretaker to oversee the property,” said Paris Cohen, chair of the Twelve Oaks Defense Committee. “The Foundation also has begun assessment and evaluation of the property. We are in the process of receiving management proposals from experienced senior housing professionals and analyzing different models of senior housing and care.”

It was two years ago that residents of the Twelve Oaks Lodge, an assisted living facility, were told to vacate their homes. The management company, the be.group, had decided to close the facility and offer it for sale. The be.group at the time reasoned it could no longer keep Twelve Oaks because it was not up to the standards of their other assisted living facilities and the cost to maintain and improve the property would be too great.

Twelve Oaks Lodge had been managed by the be.group, which assumed the management from the National Charity League, Glendale Chapter. The proposed sale of the property had not been shared with NCL, which had assumed the property would maintain its assisted living role.

NCL Glendale Chapter filed a lawsuit against be.group and a transfer was agreed upon earlier this month.

The Twelve Oaks Foundation is now in charge of the property and is working to return it to the community as an assisted living home.

The be.group did maintain the facility throughout its closure; however, there are still areas that need to be worked on.

“The Foundation will also be appealing to the community to assist with raising funds to prune the neglected oak tress on the property,” Cohen said.

Volunteers with National Charity League, Glendale will be helping with some cleanup and planning a community party for the afternoon of Oct. 11. Information on how to donate or volunteer will be released in the future.

  Mary Okeefe, Paris COHEN