Des Moines Senior AdvisorGrand Living at Tower Place MC, at 540 S 51st Street in West Des Moines (Polk County), is a dementia-specific assisted living program (ALP/D) certified by the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing under certificate S0443, with a maximum occupancy of 76 units and a certificate current through April 2, 2027.
Is Grand Living at Tower Place MC a certified assisted living program in West Des Moines, Iowa?
Yes. Grand Living at Tower Place MC holds a current DIAL certificate as a dementia-specific assisted living program (ALP/D), sized at 76 units, larger than the 58-unit midpoint of the 39 dementia-specific programs we track in the six counties.
| Field | From DIAL's records |
|---|---|
| DIAL certificate number | S0443 |
| Program type | Dementia-specific assisted living program (ALP/D) |
| First certified | April 1, 2021 |
| Current two-year certificate | April 2, 2025 through April 2, 2027 |
| Maximum occupancy | 76 units |
| Voluntary national accreditation | No; DIAL monitors it directly |
| Administrator on the DIAL record | Angela Boyd |
| State fines with exit dates since January 2023 | 1 |
| Months since DIAL's last survey or monitoring | 23.4 (next due December 3, 2026) |
| Phone on the DIAL record | (515) 850-3380 |
The certificate shown runs to April 2, 2027. Iowa issues ALP certificates for two-year terms and expects the operator to apply for recertification, with its fee, at least 30 days before the old one lapses.
DIAL dates the first certification to April 1, 2021, about 6 years ago, which places it 59 of 77 by age among the metro's certificates.
Is Grand Living at Tower Place MC a memory care program under Iowa rules?
Yes. DIAL certifies Grand Living at Tower Place MC as a dementia-specific assisted living program, Iowa's official category for programs that serve tenants with moderate to severe dementia (Global Deterioration Scale stages 4 to 7) or hold themselves out as providing specialized dementia care.
Compared with a general program, an ALP/D has stricter rules: awake overnight staff on site, a written plan for residents who may wander, eight hours of dementia-specific training at hire and annual refreshers, and building features suited to people with cognitive impairment.
The rules require enough trained staff to meet tenants' needs rather than a set ratio; ask to see two recent weeks of night-shift schedules.
The same street address also holds a general assisted living certificate: Grand Living at Tower Place, so a spouse without dementia can often live in the same community.
The full rules are summarized on our dementia-specific program page.
Has Iowa fined Grand Living at Tower Place MC?
Yes. DIAL's Assessed Fines Report lists 1 state fine for Grand Living at Tower Place MC from visits ending between January 2023 to November 2026, totaling $2,000 after adjustments; the most recent followed a visit that ended December 3, 2024.
- December 3, 2024 (visit exit date), enforcement no. 10738: $2,000 issued
Amounts in the report are what DIAL assessed; the narrative of what went wrong is in the monitoring or complaint report, which the program must make available on request under 481 IAC 69.2.
Is Grand Living at Tower Place MC due for a state monitoring visit?
DIAL's Survey Due Report counted 23.4 months since the last on-site survey or monitoring of Grand Living at Tower Place MC when we ran it on November 6, 2026, which puts that visit around November 2024; the next one is due by December 3, 2026.
Iowa rules require DIAL to monitor every certified program at least once in each 24-month period (481 IAC 67.10), plus complaint and incident investigations in between. Ask the program for the final report from that visit.
What other assisted living is near Grand Living at Tower Place MC?
The nearest other certified program is Bickford Cottage West Des Moines in West Des Moines, about 1.8 miles away as the crow flies, with 66 units and a dementia-specific certificate.
| Facility | Miles away | Type | Units or beds | State fines since 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bickford Cottage West Des Moines 5050 Hawthorne Dr, 50265 | 1.8 | ALP/D | 66 | 0 |
| Cedar Ridge Village 8950 Coachlight Drive, 50266 | 3.4 | ALP | 68 | 0 |
| Edgewater Assisted Living - Brookside 9225 Cascade Avenue, 50266 | 3.4 | ALP | 62 | 0 |
| Morningstar at Jordan Creek 525 S. 60th Street, 50266 | 3.4 | ALP | 93 | 0 |
| Morningstar at Jordan Creek MC 525 S. 60th Street, 50266 | 3.4 | ALP/D | 58 | 3 |
How far is Grand Living at Tower Place MC from a hospital?
Grand Living at Tower Place MC is in West Des Moines, Polk County, and UnityPoint Health - Des Moines Methodist West Hospital is the closest general hospital on DIAL's roster, about 3.4 miles away by straight line.
UnityPoint Health - Des Moines Iowa Methodist Medical Center is next, roughly 7.3 miles away. Distances are straight-line measurements between mapped points, not driving times.
If nursing care becomes necessary, the two nearest CMS-certified nursing facilities are Harmony West Des Moines (0.8 mi; CMS rating 1 of 5) and Pine Acres Rehabilitation and Care Center LLC (3.6 mi; CMS rating Not rated by CMS).
What should we ask Grand Living at Tower Place MC before signing?
Start with what the state's own record raises: ask what DIAL found on the visit that ended December 3, 2024 and what changed afterward.
- Request the most recent monitoring or complaint report and the program's response to it.
- Ask for the occupancy agreement and every attachment; Iowa requires it in plain language and 12-point type, with 30 days' notice before a fee change.
- Ask the program to show you, in writing, its own admission and retention criteria on top of the state's.
- Ask how many staff are awake inside the program overnight and how the written missing-tenant procedure works.
- Before counting on Medicaid, ask whether Elderly Waiver services are delivered here and how room and board would be paid.
