PALO ALTO, CA -- The Taube-Koret Campus for Jewish Life in Palo Alto, CA, is nearing completion. The $300 million, 8.6-acre campus includes the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center (JCC) and the Moldaw Family Residences.

Steinberg Architects, San Jose, CA, planned the project with sustainability in mind and designed the campus to resemble a medieval village, Robert Steinberg, president of Steinberg Architects, told local media. In addition to addressing issues such as water efficiency and air quality, the design was created to promote resident interaction and a sense of community.

“We’re creating a community where seniors and families will live together and interact in this neighborhood,” Alan Sataloff, CEO of the community center, told the Silicon Valley Business Journal. “We hope it will give people, especially seniors, a sense of life, instead of feeling isolated from the outside world.”

The Moldaw Family Residences hosts three housing projects—one for active senior citizens, one with no age restrictions and another with units for low-income seniors. Residents will begin moving in during October.

The 145,000-square-foot JCC, slated to open Sept. 1, features an indoor and outdoor pool, fitness center and indoor sports courts. The center also will host educational classes, pre-school and after-school programs, lectures and performances in its theater space.

“The Oshman Family JCC sees itself as a nexus of community life providing everything from a state-of-the-art fitness center, to a performing arts showcase, to holding engaging classes for everyone from pre-schoolers to seniors through our membership programs,” Sataloff told local media.

The collaborative campus project was founded in 2001 by the Albert L. Schultz Jewish Community Center (now the Oshman Family JCC) in Palo Alto, the Jewish Home in San Francisco, the Jewish Community Federation and local community leaders. It was funded by a combination of tax-exempt bonds issued by nonprofit organizations and donations from private benefactors.

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