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Two Maryland businessmen are heavily investing in the renovation and update of a local assisted living facility with a long history in Caroline County.
John Degen of Annapolis and Andrew Teeters of Bethesda purchased the 28-acre campus of the former Homestead Manor on Colonial Drive in January 2024. Degen is president and Teeters is CEO of Chesapeake Caregivers Management LLC. “We’re both so happy and grateful to be here, to be a part of the community,” Degen said.
Teeters thanked “all of our team members because they’re the ones doing this. It really isn’t about the building, it’s about the people in the building and the services we provide for our residents.”
The partners recruited Irma Toce to manage the new facility. Last year, Toce retired as the award-winning CEO of Londonderry on the Tred Avon retirement community in Easton, where she had served for a decade.
“I’ve been in this field for a long, long time, and I love what I do and I love what I see,” Toce said. Her vision is to give “the residents the best life we can give them.”
“If this is to be their last chapter, let’s make it a happy one,” Toce said. “And I feel personally always very privileged to be part of that, and being able to help somebody through that.”
“We are definitely investing long term and the future of this building,” said Andrea Ellen, vice president of sales and marketing. “It really had not been touched for many years … and we’re (renovating) the whole building.”
The two owners bought the community for $4.5 million, and expect to invest over a $1 million in renovations.
Degen, who has owned, operated and developed assisted living facilities since 2002, said he had known about the Homestead community for decades.
“I knew that the community had a strong background in hiring local staff, and (the building) had good bones,” Degen said.
They said developing a senior care residential community in Caroline County is important. “Our goal is to create a locally based company, and so coming to Caroline County, coming to Denton, it’s been amazing – (we’ve gotten) a great reception from the town,” Teeters said.
“We want to build relationships with everyone in this room and with the local businesses,” Degen said. “I’ll be here; you’ll see me around town. I love to go in and eat at local restaurants and meet new people.”
“One of the first things that the new owners did was reach out to us at the town, and I’m not even sure if the deal was done,” Denton Town Administrator Scott Getchell said. “We’re committed to doing whatever we can do to help them succeed.”
“It was important to (the new owners) to be part of the community, not to just be business owners in the community,” Getchell said. “I knew the original owner of this facility and he had a big heart for seniors – a wonderful person – so it’s really nice to know that the same kind of people are taking over.”
The enterprise has changed hands a couple of times since the Rev. Paul Dieter and his wife Jane envisioned the former Wesleyan campus in the early 1970s.
Caroline County Commissioner Larry Porter, who worked for the Town of Denton at the time, said Dieter was the driving force behind the senior living complex, which began operations in 1982.
In a phone interview, Porter called the complex a “pretty big group effort,” involving an easement of town water and sewer to the site and getting neighbors’ buy-in. Dieter was “one of the most incredible people I worked with,” Porter said.
“What we’re doing here is a much-needed service and there’s a significant demand for it,” Teeters said. “The building needed a significant renovation; we’ve done a lot of work and there’s still work to be done.”
Under construction soon will be a secure, “dedicated and specialized Memory Care neighborhood” to be staffed with “people that are specialized in dementia care training,” Teeters said. “What we’re finding is a lot of the people coming in as prospective residents have some form of dementia, including Alzheimer’s.”
The main building, which has 61 apartments, can accommodate 85 residents. The campus, which borders a scenic lake, also has 24 independent living cottages, which will also be renovated. Chesapeake Caregivers Management is approved to build an additional 19 cottages.
The partners’ investment in senior care is “really a calling for us,” Teeters said. “Providing a safe and healthy environment for seniors in their last chapter is so important.”
