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Now that The Village for Healthcare and Rehabilitation of Workmen's Circle has cleared its legal hurdles, the proposed kosher nursing home in Freehold is tackling a new challenge -- raising money for the 100,000-square-foot project during a recession.

In April, the facility was approved by the Freehold Township Planning Board for a location on Gibson Place, a 14-acre wooded area near Routes 537 and 33. Originally slated as a nursing home and assisted living facility with 192 total rooms on Halls Mill Road, The Village was rejected last year by Freehold's Zoning Board of Adjustment because the site was zoned for industrial use, setting off protests from synagogues, the Jewish federation, Jewish Family Services, and other locals.

The new site was zoned for a nursing home, leading to a "smooth public hearing," said Dr. Martin Krupnick, chairman of the board for The Village. Changing locations forced The Village to abandon plans for an assisted living facility and focus solely on a 152-room nursing home, Krupnick said, but the design of the home remained intact: 10 small "neighborhoods" with 12 to 16 private suites surrounding a kitchen, dining room, and living room with access to an enclosed courtyard or balcony.

The two-story residence will also include a communal kosher café, spa, wellness center, gym, beauty salon, movie theater, and recreational space. Krupnick said that The Village is aiming to break ground in the early fall, with an estimated construction time of 18 months. But first, the Village must focus on financing the $40-$45 million project through selling notes and tax-exempt bonds, in addition to accruing donations.

"The location is great, the idea is great, the timing is great," David Portman, chairman of the Foundation for The Village, said. "The biggest problem is going forward and raising the money."

To offset both construction costs and operational costs until the non-profit home is filled up, The Village intends to sell $4 million in notes and $43 million in tax-exempt bonds, Portman said. Seena Stein, coordinator of The Village's capital campaign, said that Jewish and non-Jewish donors in Monmouth, Ocean, and lower Middlesex counties have been targeted through a mass mailing and news releases, in addition to private lunches and dinners. The Village has secured $4 million in donations so far, she said.

Many Jewish donors prefer notes or bonds because they get their money back and profit from interest rates, but some actually prefer to make pure donations and "get done with it," Portman explained. A two-time past president of the Jewish Federation of Monmouth County, Portman said he has worked for 20 years to put up a home like The Village, beginning with a failed attempt to buy the Berkeley Carteret Hotel in Asbury Park and turn it into a nursing home with facilities for assisted and independent living.

"I've been at it for a long time and hopefully it comes to fruition," Portman said. "It's a very, very necessary project. There are a large number of seniors in the Monmouth, Ocean, and lower Middlesex areas, and that's who we will be serving."

There are no other specifically Jewish non-profit homes in Monmouth County, and being a non-profit is advantageous since "The feeling is a little bit warmer because people feel that the operation is in place for the good of the senior," Portman said.

Krupnick said that strategic planning for The Village started five years ago. In 2006, the New Jersey Workmen's Circle sold its nursing home in Elizabeth because a market study revealed a greater need for elder care in Monmouth County. Krupnick estimated that getting rejected by the Freehold Zoning Board set The Village back by two years.

Even though the new site at Gibson Place did not allow for an assisted living facility, Krupnick said it was a more desirable location than Halls Mill Road because it is near shopping areas, a Radisson hotel to accommodate family members who are visiting from out of town, and a school that will allow for intergenerational activities. The first site was a flat cornfield and not as aesthetically pleasing as the woods, he said.

With a greenhouse concept that does away with the long hallways of traditional nursing homes, Krupnick said The Village will make residents feel at home.

"We very much want to give you a flavor of going to your own house, not an institutional setting," he said.

Anthony Bastardi, project development manager for The Village and CEO of Fairfield-based Construction Technology Corporation, said that he didn't know of a similar design to The Village anywhere in New Jersey. He explained that the private rooms for The Village's "neighborhoods" are being built off-site at a modular manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania, while the common areas and amenities such as kitchens are built on site.

This building method saves four to five months of construction time and also lowers cost because the weather is not a factor at the indoor off-site plant, and materials are acquired in bulk discounts, Bastardi said. Changing sites resulted in an extra three-month process of creating a mirror image for the nursing home's design, he said.

Stein, a principal of the Newmark Knight Frank real estate firm in Red Bank, is a lifelong participant in the Workmen's Circle who said she took part in the organization's summer camps as early as age 5 and has since seen five of her children and four grandchildren attend. The need for quality nursing homes is as great as ever because people are living longer, Stein said, noting that her mother is 93 years old.

"We need [The Village] very badly," Stein said. "It's dear to my heart, both the organization and the subject matter. We know that if you send your parents [to The Village] they will be taken care of, and that's the priority for all of us."