Small-home memory care coming to Mallard Pond as local ER doctor, ICU nurse build Legato Living homes

TEXARKANA, Texas — A Texarkana emergency room physician and his wife, an intensive care nurse, are building a pair of small residential memory care homes inside the gated Mallard Pond subdivision off Kings Highway — a model of dementia care they say most people in Texarkana have never encountered.

Dr. Jeb Frost and Tasha Frost are the owners of Legato Living at Pleasant Grove, a franchise location of Omaha-based Legato Living, which operates small-home residential memory care in Nebraska, Arizona, Indiana and South Carolina. Rather than a single large facility, the model places a handful of residents in what looks and functions like an ordinary house.

The first home is under construction now at 8418 Mandarin Cove, with framing underway and completion expected around February. A second home at 8415 Mandarin Cove was registered with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation on Aug. 27 as a $1.08 million, 5,460-square-foot, single-story project, with construction planned to begin in January. Joe Crews Architect, LLC of Texarkana is the design firm on the project.

Each home will have eight resident bedrooms and be licensed for a maximum of 10 residents as a Texas small Type B assisted living facility specializing in memory care, Frost said.

“Even at full occupancy, we’re talking about ten people living together in a home, not dozens or hundreds of residents living in a large facility,” Frost said in an emailed response to TXKtoday.

‘This project is personal’

Frost, who is board-certified in emergency and family medicine and has practiced in Texarkana for years, said the project grew out of his own family’s experience with dementia.

“My maternal grandmother suffered from dementia for years. My grandfather was determined to keep her at home for as long as he possibly could,” Frost said. “But caring for someone with advancing dementia around the clock eventually takes an enormous toll on the caregiver as well. He wore himself out trying to care for her.”

Frost said he has often thought about how different that period might have been if a small-home option had existed — “somewhere she could receive the level of care and supervision she needed while still living in an environment that felt like a home rather than an institution.”

“I believe it could have improved her quality of life while also allowing my grandfather to remain her husband instead of becoming her full-time caregiver,” he said.

Tasha Frost is a registered nurse with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and a background in intensive care. Frost said the couple has watched families face the same decision throughout their careers: a parent or spouse with dementia can no longer safely stay at home, but the family doesn’t feel a large institutional facility is the right fit.

The homes are built around shared residential spaces — a kitchen, dining area and living areas — with caregivers present around the clock and staffing levels based on the number of residents and their individual needs. Frost said the design also incorporates safety features, technology, music and daily routines intended to reduce confusion and anxiety for residents with dementia.

Three properties on Mandarin Cove

The project involves three adjacent properties on Mandarin Cove. In addition to the two assisted living homes at 8418 and 8415, the existing single-family house at 8417 will remain a residence, serving initially as the leasing and administrative office. Frost said it may eventually house the lead Legato Living caregiver and his or her family.

Once construction on the first home is finished, it must still complete the Texas Health and Human Services Commission licensing process, which Frost said the couple expects to take roughly two to four months.

The TDLR filing lists the owner as Twin River Equities LLC, a series entity with an address in Maud, and identifies the second home as “Cambell Cottage.”

Why a gated neighborhood

Mallard Pond is a gated, deed-restricted subdivision of large wooded lots around a central lake, where new homes have listed for around $500,000. Placing a licensed care facility inside a residential neighborhood is unusual — and Frost said that’s the point.

“Residential assisted living works best when it really is residential,” he said. “People living with dementia don’t stop being members of a community simply because they need help with medications, meals, bathing, dressing or supervision.”

Frost said one design goal from the beginning has been that a Legato Living home should be “essentially indistinguishable” from other homes in the neighborhood when viewed from the street.

“We aren’t designing an institutional building and trying to make it fit into a residential neighborhood. We’re designing a residential home that also happens to have the safety features, accessibility and infrastructure necessary to care for people living with dementia,” he said. “We want someone driving through Mallard Pond to see a beautiful home that complements the neighborhood, not a commercial facility.”

Frost said the couple has worked with the subdivision’s developer regarding the project and the neighborhood restrictions and has tried to be transparent about what they are building. He acknowledged that the phrase “assisted living facility” can raise questions among neighbors because it suggests something larger and more institutional than what is planned.

If the current timeline holds, the first home would open to residents sometime in mid-2027, with the second following after its completion, projected in the TDLR filing for November 2027.

Renderings courtesy of Legato Living at Pleasant Grove.