"Word's getting out," said Judy Leiterman, asset manager for Cardinal Capital Management Inc., Milwaukee, the real estate developer and leasing agent. "It will be interesting to see how many others will be able to pull it off."

Water Tower View looks like most residential homes for seniors: It has common areas, railed hallways, large showers instead of tubs and a beauty salon.

But to cater to its 50 residents, it also has visual communication aids. They include blinking lights to alert residents when doorbells and phones ring, and when visitors are at the main entrance; videophone wiring; and a system in the community room that allows hard of hearing residents to amplify their hearing aids, said Carol Comp, resident manager.

Those and other components represented about $300,000 of Water Tower View's $5 million price tag.

Cardinal and Southeast Wisconsin Deaf Senior Citizens, which helped with financing for Water Tower View and pays for some of its programs, are sharing the concept with deaf organizations in Madison and other parts of the state, said Katie Voss, housing consultant for Cardinal Capital.

Arizona, Florida looking
Voss, who is deaf, also is working with the Arizona Deaf Senior Citizen Coalition and the Florida Association for the Deaf to create similar housing in Phoenix, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale.

Christopher Wagner, president of the Florida Association for the Deaf, said he learned of the Milwaukee project a year ago while talking to his friend, John Dickinson, the architect who designed Water Tower View. The Florida group plans to open two sites with at least 80 units each within three years, he said.

Cardinal "has provided support to our association, and played a large role in getting the ball moving on the long-awaited project," Wagner, who is deaf, said in an e-mail.

Source: http://washington.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2006/04/10/story8.html