Jake Palillo inside what will be the Symphony Park bar and lounge / Photo by Dave Yochum

March 14. By Dave Yochum. When the Symphony Park opens in April, the luxury senior living resort complex will have 100 employees and a $300,000 monthly payroll.

Not to mention a concierge who was a footman for Princess Diana.

As well as groundskeepers, chefs, dishwashers, drivers and a water fitness instructor.

Like a luxury hotel

The amenities are astonishing: Fine dining, a bistro, a cocktail lounge, library, game room, craft room, movie theater, woodworking shop, pickleball courts, billiards and even a music room with a grand piano.

If you have out of town guests, there are two hotel suites.

Pricing

Of course, it comes at a cost. Monthly rental for one- and two-bedroom apartments start at about $5,500 a month with a $500 dining allowance. A common business model is a large “down-payment” just to move in; at Symphony there isn’t one.

“My thought process was to develop something I would live in myself,” the long-time resident of The Peninsula says.

“The whole idea is like being on vacation but you never have to pack your bags and leave. It’s designed so you never have to put your coat on,” says Palillo, the developer of Bailey’s Glen, the over 55 community on Bailey Road in Cornelius.

His target market now includes older adults in The Peninsula, Trilogy in Denver, River Run in Davidson and, of course, Bailey’s Glen.

A hands-on entrepreneur, he’s in the day-to-day mix of 100 to 200 workers putting the finishing touches on the $100 million project.

It sits on 36 acres on Sam Furr Road about a mile east of Hwy. 115.

And there’s more to come.

Two hundred and forty units are virtually complete in Phase One with another 80 planned in a fourth building when 80 percent of the first phase is rented. After that, Palillo plans assisted living and memory care facilities on an additional 12-acre site.

Out of 240 units in the first phase, 120 are reserved.

Total value at build-out: $175 million.

The median entry point is about age 75. Roughly two-thirds are single adults, widows and widowers, Palillo says.