IntegraCare CEO to Host Nov. 18 Event at Senior Living Community
GREAT FALLS, Virginia — As IntegraCare CEO, Larry Rouvelas oversees 17 senior living communities across three states, but his hometown roots in Great Falls, Virginia, make The Residence at Colvin Run especially meaningful to him.
Rouvelas graduated in 1987 from nearby Langley High School in Fairfax County. He was on the Great Falls Rapids swim team throughout his childhood years. His first job? A dishwasher at The Old Brogue, an iconic restaurant still popular today. His family and lifelong friends are from the region.
Now, decades later, Rouvelas is coming full circle, welcoming the community he grew up in to experience the senior living vision he’s crafted with them in mind.
The Residence at Colvin Run will invite residents, family members and the public to meet Rouvelas. The homecoming event will be from 3 to 5 p.m. on Nov. 18 at The Residence at Colvin Run, 1131 Walker Road in Great Falls.
“I want to run a place where the neighbors I grew up with in Great Falls will be proud to live in,” Rouvelas said. “They are the parents of my high school friends. For me, personally, at Colvin Run, the stakes are extra-high to get things right.”
It could be said that The Residence at Colvin Run team “got things right” at the 62-unit senior living community situated on three acres in a rustic setting. Last year, the James M. Scott Exceptional Design Awards presented The Residence at Colvin Run with a Merit Award. The World’s Best Work Places certified Colvin Run as a Great Place to Work in each of the past two years. The senior living community’s team recently earned IntegraCare’s Silver Level Award for callbell response time.
Construction on the state-of-the-art building was finished two years ago, and IntegraCare celebrated a grand opening at The Residence at Colvin Run in September 2022.
Building Colvin Run wasn’t about constructing a towering apartment complex. Instead, Rouvelas wanted an assisted living community that would reflect the charm of Great Falls — a blend of old and new Virginia, designed with boutique elegance and understated independence. Residents are close to everything they need in a setting that reflects the unique, welcoming character of Great Falls.
“We’ve built a smaller senior living community where everything is relatively close,” Rouvelas said. “You’re not going to walk down long hallways to get from your apartment to where you want to go. You are steps away from a nice meal. You are steps away from the art studio.
“That’s sort of like Great Falls itself,” he added. “In Great Falls, all roads end up leading to the Village Green. You’re surrounded by winding roads and hills. This is not some master-plan development where everything is rigid and geometric. There’s a real respect for space and land. That’s what we try to model here at The Residence at Colvin Run. Our architecture folds into the topography. We have short hallway runs so that you’re always close to the action that is here.”
His Great Falls ties will make the meet-and-greet even more special to Rouvelas, as memories will be rekindled and friendships revisited.
“I have so many wonderful memories of being on the swim team,” Rouvelas said. “I was a proud member of the Great Falls Rapids and swam every summer. During the weekdays I was there for practices in the morning, then walked up to Safeway for lunch. On Saturday morning we would all get up and cheer our teammates.
“When you were a young kid, the older kids would be cheering for you,” he said. “When you were a big kid, you would end up cheering for the younger kids. That part of community, that part of the older and the younger generations all there together — everybody’s earning points for the team, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose but you’re all in it together – is one of my absolutely most fond memories of growing up in Great Falls. Go Rapids!”
Through IntegraCare and The Residence at Colvin Run, Rouvelas has added to the legacy of the Great Falls community.
“Years later,” Rouvelas said, “I had the opportunity to build a senior housing community here in Great Falls. I wanted it to be a special place for the residents of Great Falls, for the mothers and fathers of my friends from high school. For the parents of the people that I grew up, the parents who drove me around in the carpool. It has been incredibly satisfying to be able to do that.”
For more information or to RSVP for the Nov. 18 event, call 703.223.5226.