27-03-2025
Gluckstadt assisted living facility breaks ground after search for new location. See where
The Oaks Residence Luxury Assisted Living broke ground on its Gluckstadt home Thursday morning, March 27, after a months-long search for a new location.
A 15-bed facility, The Oaks, will serve elderly patients and those who cannot live on their own. The staff will include trained nurses and a five-to-one caregiver-to-resident ratio.
Chad and Crystal Phillips, the husband-and-wife duo behind the Oaks, have long held the dream to open an assisted living facility. Chad, a Madison native and charge nurse, saw first-hand the need for such a facility in the Madison area. His desire to create the facility aligned with Crystal's knowledge as a realtor.
The developers originally intended to build The Oaks in Livingston, an unincorporated community in Madison County near Flora dotted with restaurants and commercial businesses.
In early January 2024, Livingston business owners and nearby residents gathered at a Madison County Board of Supervisors meeting to make their opposition known during a public hearing that lasted nearly three hours.
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The owners and residents felt an assisted living facility would disrupt Livingston's established character. The area has few residential properties and is known more for its entertainment scene, including restaurants, commercial businesses, music festivals, farmers markets and wedding venues.
The proposal, originally approved by the Madison County Planning and Zoning Commission in October 2023, went through several months of back and forth within Board of Supervisors meetings. The Mannsdale-Livingston Heritage Preservation Commission fervently pushed back against the planning and zoning approval.
In late May, the proposal was still awaiting voting from the Madison County Board of Supervisors when Chad announced he and Crystal had chosen to withdraw the proposal entirely. The Phillips sold the Livingston property on May 24, 2024.
Chad told the Clarion Ledger in early June 2024 that he and Crystal had found a new home for The Oaks, and on July 9, Gluckstadt Mayor Walter C. Morrison and the Board of Alderman unanimously approved a conditional use permit.
Late Thursday morning, March 27, the Phillips officially broke ground in Gluckstadt. The new site is located on 5 acres of land on the corner of Calhoun Parkway and Stout Road.
Chad and Crystal were joined by their children, Reese, 8, Hudson, 6, and James, 7 months, and representatives from Mills Contracting as they symbolically broke ground with shovels adorned with yellow ribbons.
Mills Contracting also celebrated new beginnings. The company's freshly built office sits directly adjacent to The Oaks property.
After the groundbreaking ceremony, the Phillips and Mills team celebrated with a crowd of about three dozen people, eating crawfish and listening to live music in the porch area of the new Mills building.
Chad said the last year of hard work made Thursday's ground breaking even more rewarding. He added that the long process of praying and shifting plans has brought his family closer together.
"The beautiful part about Gluckstadt is they haven't had any kind of nursing services, no assisted living memory care for seniors," Chad said. "So, when I approached the mayor, he was very excited that we would be able to bring this offering to the city because they just didn't have that."
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When looking for a new site, Chad said he was drawn to the Gluckstadt property.
"I'd like to drive around a lot and think, and I drove by this piece of property, saw a sign on it, and within a month we were under contract, and within another month the property was approved by the city," Chad said. "We just immediately saw God's hand in the process … it was such a blessing."
The Oaks will keep the original building plans, with a few tweaks so the exterior flows with existing infrastructure.
This facility comes at a time of significant growth for Gluckstadt, which officially became a city in 2021. A couple miles down Calhoun Parkway, two days prior to The Oaks groundbreaking, Germantown High School cut the ribbon on a new 55,000 square foot state-of-the-art performing arts center, part of a $44 million project which includes a wing of new classrooms.
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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Gluckstadt assisted living facility finds new location, breaks ground
