Local citizens, dignitaries, and project participants joined the Sisters from the Mother of God Monastery on August 3rd, 2023 to celebrate the grand opening of the Village at Harmony Hill, in Watertown, South Dakota. This development is a major investment in the people of South Dakota, extending the Sisters’ mission to support the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of the people in the region.
The project, driven by the Sister’s lasting support of the Dakota community, stands in contrast to many developments that focus on style over substance to attract tenants. The Village at Harmony Hill is deliberately designed as a multi-phase mixed-use project that supports intergenerational living with options for seniors, singles, and families, support for education, recreation, and commercial/retail establishments in a sustainable mix and with services to a flourishing life for all who live or visit the development.
This first phase focuses on senior living providing forty-eight assisted living units and sixteen memory care units and reflects the Benedictine Sister’s values of care, compassion, and balance in life. The entirety of the development, some say the largest in the history of South Dakota, will involve 500 acres devoted to an engaging life when all phases are complete.
The development process moved quickly once the Sisters’ realized they were called to this project. Momentum built around Sisters’ culture of comfort, care, and community. These translated into possibilities for various physical configurations, refined into development phases, grew into individually designed spaces, and then blossomed into the fully realized Phase 1 highlighted during the recent open house. Throughout, Sister Theresa Hoffman and Sister Barbara Younger were supported by many advisors helping them to hone their vision, including (but not limited to):