Agrace plans dementia village

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

As reported by Wisconsin Health News

Agrace, a hospice, palliative and dementia care provider, plans to build a dementia village at its Madison campus.

The village differs from institutional memory care by offering small households and neighborhood living for those with dementia.

“It will look and feel very, very much like a home,” Agrace CEO Lynne Sexten said.

The secure community will have eight homes, each with eight residents. Residents will be grouped together based on beliefs, preferences and lived experiences. Workers will help them run their households.

The village will have amenities like a theater, coffee shop, sundry store, pub and grill, spa and places to hold clubs for residents’ hobbies.

Agrace plans to break ground in May and welcome the first residents in September 2027.

The nonprofit provider drew inspiration from Hogeweyk Dementia Village, a Dutch community where those with dementia live in a neighborhood setting.

Sexten said the structure of memory care in the United States, with large facilities that resemble hotels, hasn’t produced the best quality of life for residents.

“What we want to do here at Agrace is be the first in the nation to truly replicate what Hogeweyk has done and achieve the kind of outcomes that they’ve achieved,” she said.

Agrace has retained Hogeweyk as a consultant to help stay true to the model.

Residents will pay monthly rates comparable to what they would otherwise pay at assisted living facilities. Agrace has an endowment to provide a sliding fee scale for individuals who might not be able to afford the full amount.

“This will be something that our entire community will be able to avail themselves of,” Sexten said.

Room and board will be private pay, but Agrace will bill insurance for medical care.

The village will have eight studio apartments for workers. College students who are studying in local medical and clinical programs will be able to live for free in the village in exchange for working a certain number of shifts every month, Sexten said.

Agrace will relocate and incorporate their adult day center, a facility that helps slow the progression of dementia and reduce cognitive decline, into the village. That will bring in another 40 to 50 people on a daily basis, Sexten said.

Overall, the project will cost around $40 million, she said. Agrace plans to raise $30 million of that through a capital campaign. Madison-based philanthropists Ellen and Peter Johnson, after whom the village will be named, have provided a lead gift of $7 million.

Sexten said the state will license the village. Agrace is working with regulators on how that will look, but the village will fall under assisted living memory care regulation.

An organization in Sheboygan County is also pursuing a dementia village in the town of Wilson. Residents at Livasu will own their homes, rather than live in group homes.