An Aurora City Council committee this week approved final plans for the 70-unit 1449 Senior Estates subdivision where the Jericho Circle housing complex once stood on the city’s southwest side.
Members of the Building, Zoning and Economic Development Committee unanimously approved the plans, which will only go before the full City Council if someone appeals the approvals by Sept. 21.
The full council approved the preliminary plans for the development in April.
The new 1449 Senior Estates subdivision will have 70 units – 50 of them in 25, one-story duplexes, and the other 20 in one-story single-family residences – a clubhouse, on-site management offices, a media center, a fitness club, pickleball courts and an outdoor community area.
The active senior development will be limited to residents 62 years old or older, with income eligibility of $15,000 to $45,000 a year.
The development will be done on more than 12 acres behind where the Aurora Housing Authority offices are, a spot that used to be home to the Jericho Circle housing complex for many years. About 10 years ago, the development was torn down and has long been considered a failure of public housing by many Aurorans.
The senior housing would be developed by a group that includes the Aurora Housing Authority, the Northern Lights Development Corp. – which is a not-for-profit arm of the housing authority – and a limited partnership of investors.
The partnership is investing $23 million in private money raised from the Bank of America, the National Equity Fund and IFF, officials have said. The latter two are not-for-profit firms that specialize in investing in public and neighborhood projects.
The Aurora Housing Authority is donating the land, and promoting the development. Once built, the development will be managed by an on-site, private management company.
Northern Lights is a general partner member and sponsor of the project.
The partnership of investors will own the property once built, as it is investing the $23 million raised.
Developers have said the project is dependent on a 30-year agreement that says the property has to be senior housing for at least that long. As part of the capitalization of the project, there will be $600,000 put aside for maintenance, to make sure the property is kept up, developers have said.
The same partnership developing the property did a similar senior development in Joliet called Liberty Landing, on land donated by the Joliet Housing Authority.
