Susan Mizen knows the difficulty of finding a new building.

“It can be a challenge to find a large residential home that’s on one level,” she said.

Mizen is the executive director of Horizons Specialized Services, which was able to purchase the Rainbow Living Center last month.

The Rainbow Living Center served as an assisted living facility for senior citizens.

Horizons also provides assisted living, but to a different set of clients.

The organization provides services including day care, housing, job training and transportation to people with developmental disabilities in Northwest Colorado.

For Horizons to be able to house four or more people with developmental disabilities, the home has to be licensed by the Colorado Department of Health (CDH).

Finding a place with an indoor sprinkler system for fire safety that is wheelchair accessible was not easy, Mizen said.

“Finding an existing home with those features is pretty tough to do,” she said. “(The Rainbow Living Center) is all on one level, so it is totally accessible.”

Horizons was able to buy the building by selling two other residences it owns.

The center went on the market when the previous owner, Bob Grubb, didn’t have enough clients for his assisted living business. “We were down to five people and were just managing to scrape through with my wife (Diane) and I working for free,” Grubb said.

Horizons plans to move people into the home by the first week of September. There will be seven clients living in the main part of the house. Two employees will also live there to provide help and counseling.

Grubb said he was upset that he had to sell the building, but he is glad it will be going to an organization that can use it.

“(Horizons) fits the building well,” he said. “I am happy to sell to someone that will use it for our original desires.”

Horizons didn’t finalize the sale until the five residents of Rainbow Living Center had other care.

Of those five residents, two moved in with Grubb, one moved in with her family, one went to Sandrock Ridge Care and Rehab and one bought his own home. While Grubb said he wanted to continue providing a larger assisted living center, he said helping just two people is easier on him. “As far as I know for the next two to five years were going to be taking care of two ladies,” he said. “We can give as good care to those two as possible. We’ve shrunk, but we haven’t died.”

All the work Grubb had done to the building will be a tremendous help for Horizons, Mizen said. “I think it going to be a terrific asset for us,” she said.