Photo by Deb Gau The Balaton EDA announced the sale of the Lakeview Senior Housing facility to new owners.

BALATON — An assisted living facility in Balaton now has new owners, the Balaton Economic Development Authority announced this week.

On Monday, Pallansch Prestige Properties officially purchased the Lakeview Senior Housing facility, said Balaton Economic Development Authority Director Tara Onken.

Matt Pallansch is the president and CEO of MN Signature Care, which has managed the Lakeview assisted living facility since 2021.

“They’re well-established, and we’re happy to have had their partnership,” Onken said. “Since they took over with managing (Lakeview Senior Housing), they have become familiar with Balaton and the area.”

Pallansch said it was exciting to complete the sale process, which started more than a year ago.

“We’re so glad to be operating in the community,” he said. “We look forward to continuing to serve the Balaton community for many years.”

Greg Erickson, a member of the Balaton City Council, said the Lakeview assisted living facility was built in 2001, and it has had a variety of different managers since then. Over the years, owning an assisted living center had been “kind of a tough go” for the city of Balaton, Erickson said. In the past few years, MN Signature care had been a good fit to run the facility.

“We’re glad that they’re the ones taking it over,” he said.

The city of Balaton wanted to make sure that new owners for the Lakeview facility would keep it running.

Pallansch said that was the goal for MN Signature Care. The company tries to keep businesses and staff local, and provide needed services, he said.

Pallansch said MN Signature Care manages 12 assisted living locations across Minnesota, from Adrian in the south to Tower in the north. Statewide, the group has about 300 employees, and serves 300 residents.

On a local level, Lakeview Assisted Living has 16 units of housing, and employs close to 20 people, Pallansch said.

Onken said the sale involved teamwork from the new owners, the city of Balaton, the Balaton EDA, and First Independent Bank. Ownership of the assisted living property was transferred from the city to the EDA, before Pallansch bought it.

“Everyone worked in a collaborative manner,” Onken said.

“It really was an ‘all hands on deck’ thing to get done,” she said.

Responses to the sale have been “overwhelmingly positive,” Onken said. Local residents wanted Balaton area seniors to be able to stay close to home, she said.

There were originally two city-owned senior care facilities in Balaton. While Lakeview Senior Housing has stayed open, the Colonial Manor nursing home next door closed in 2019. In 2024, the Colonial Manor building was sold to a private owner who had plans to redevelop it.