Kristy Dumas, Jeremy Richer and Thomas Richer are partners in business at Family Crest Living, which expects to start moving in its first residents very soon.

Jeremy and Tom, who now both live in Illinois but return to Delta County regularly, found the place was for sale thanks to the help of Key Realty. They bought the building in spring 2024. It has two apartments upstairs — regular residences unaffiliated with the lower-story business, but under the same ownership.

The idea was to give back to the community they came from, Kristy explained.

Kristy, who has experience in multiple care homes after being a combat medic in the Air Force, has noticed what works and heard from residents and families about what features they’d like in a living facility. Once Family Crest is fully open, she will manage it, and the brothers will be relatively hands-off.

Siblings Jeremy Richer, Kristy Dumas and Thomas Richer in the living room of Family Crest Living, a new assisted living facility in Escanaba, during an open house Saturday. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)

Tom is a civil engineer; Jeremy is a contractor; Kristy is a nurse. It may seem like an unusual trifecta of careers to come together on a project, but they’ve all stepped up harmoniously.

“My brothers wanted to give back to the community. That’s how they look at it. You know, they were born and raised here, and they love it here,” Kristy said, speaking in the newly renovated living room at 400 S. 10th St. “They wanted to give back to the community that supported them, and with me being in health care, that’s how they figured we were going to give back. … Providing care to people — they know that’s my passion.”

She said that they all felt that supplying a beneficial service would be a more meaningful way to aid the community than just turning the property into rental or office space.

The Richer brothers had closed on the property before introducing their sister to the space, but the pieces came together.

“We jumped on the opportunity, and then we talked to Kristy, and then walked her through the facility, and then she just kind of like fell in love with the opportunity of — this could be just a phenomenal place,” Tom said.

The building at the southwest corner of Fourth Avenue South and South 10th Street has recently been converted into an assisted living home. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)

Previously, the house had been a funeral home and the interior was largely open space. Jeremy, the builder, taped off what would become rooms to give Kristy an idea of what it could be.

Shortly after the trio decided they would move forward with transforming the place into a modern, family-run, assisted living facility, they applied for licenses through the state and went about remodeling the place to comply with requirements as well as their vision.

“We had some phenomenal local subcontractors,” Tom said, remarking that Gladstone Plumbing and Heating, Richer Power Electrical Contracting of Escanaba, architect Dynamic Design Group of Escanaba, and Reaper Fire Protection from Standish near Bay City in lower Michigan were all great to work with.

Now, the building is remodeled to have nine rooms with up to 12 beds.

There are four restrooms, two with full baths; a living and dining room; an activities room; a library; a coffee room; and a kitchen. A garage allows people to drive in and access the home without having to step into the elements.

A room at Family Crest Living, a new assisted living facility in Escanaba, is ready for a resident. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)

Each room has a flat rate, a cost that doesn’t rise as level of care increases.

“Eventually you’re going to need more services … and we expect that you’re going to need more assistance, because that’s what happens, and we’re not going to charge extra for that,” Kristy said firmly.

Family Crest had an open house Saturday. Several people previously toured the place and are interested in moving in. The business is expecting the final paperwork to be ready within the next couple weeks, after which point they can start operating and bringing in residents. Three are already lined up to move in.

Kristy is happy to move gradually, she said, hoping to get the first three people in this month and add a couple more residents by March. By growing slowly and adding staff as needed, she will be able to identify needs as they arise and accommodate.

Included with a room are meals, medication and activities. Transportation to doctors’ appointments may be offered as well, which Kristy believes will help herself and staff stay in the know about what each resident needs medically.

In the long run, Kristy said, she’d like to have a room available for immediate placement — an area where someone can go temporarily before finding a more permanent place to live. She noticed that was a need when she was working in hospice.

Tom noted that Family Crest will be a different sort of operation than some of the other assisted living facilities in the area, primarily because of its size. With only nine rooms, this new home will have more of a “family atmosphere,” he said.

For more information about Family Crest Living, contact Kristy Dumas at 906-212-2196.

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R. R. Branstrom may be reached at 906-786-2021, ext. 140, or rbranstrom@dailypress.net.