St. Charles could be getting a new senior living community in the near future, as a senior living operator eyes the area for a proposed 151-unit development.
Cedarhurst Senior Living, a St. Louis-based owner and operator of senior housing communities, is looking to build a senior living development at the southwest corner of Dean Street and Peck Road, currently in an unincorporated part of St. Charles Township.
The proposed project would have assisted living units and a memory care facility, as well as a number of independent living units.
The project — which would be called Cedarhurst of St. Charles — is intended to meet a demand for senior housing options, said Nick Dwyer, the Director of Development for Dover Development, at the city’s Planning and Development Committee meeting on Jan. 12. Cedarhurst Senior Living is the management company for Dover.
At the meeting, during which the developer presented some of the plans for the development and addressed questions from the city, Dwyer said that St. Charles is a market the developer has “looked at for quite some time.”
Cedarhurst operates similar communities in Naperville and Yorkville, and in other locations in Illinois and across the Midwest, according to its website.
Dwyer said that senior housing is “much needed” in the area, and said that this project would only meet half of the demand the developer believes will be required in the area in the next five to 10 years.
The development would sit on 23 acres of unincorporated property north of Renaux Manor subdivision, part of a larger farmland property called the Heisley Property, according to city documents. The city would have to annex the land into St. Charles in order for the development to occur. The land is separated from St. Charles’ boundaries by the Great Western Trail to the south, which is owned by the Kane County Forest Preserve District.
The developer’s pitch is a 77,000-square-foot facility with 87 units — 60 of which would be dedicated to assisted living and 27 for memory care. A second phase of the project would add 64 “independent living cottages,” and would include amenities like a clubhouse and dog park.
According to Dwyer, the entire project would cost around $64 million, and is expected to generate more than 60 jobs.
The pitch was first brought to the city’s Plan Commission on Jan. 6, at which some feedback was given to the developer regarding things like tree preservation and constructing a connection to the Great Western Trail for the independent living residents, according to city documents.
Some residents, mainly from the Renaux Manor subdivision to the south, expressed concerns about things like the impact of the proposed development on the Great Western Trail, possible noise from emergency vehicles and light pollution and whether the project fits the character of the surrounding area and if a single-family use would be preferred.
At the Jan. 12 Planning and Development meeting, Dwyer clarified that Cedarhurst has its own general contractor that builds communities for them, but that they use local labor and subcontractors.
He explained that, upon getting the needed permissions from the city and finishing designs and architectural plans, Dover would plan to break ground later this summer. He noted that these types of projects typically take around 18 months to construct, and then it would be another 18 months before the first phase of the project would be fully operational. From there, the developer would start on constructing the independent living units.
Asked about the price point for the units, Dwyer said a one-bedroom assisted living apartment in St. Charles currently goes for around $7,000 per month including all services, and that these units would be in that range. The cottages, too, would be rented on a month-to-month basis, like the other units.
At the meeting, members of the City Council provided feedback, with some pointing to a need for this sort of housing in the city. They also asked questions about things like traffic and road safety and the preservation of trees on the land.
Ald. Jayme Muenz expressed concern about the project being inconsistent with the city’s comprehensive plan, including its priority to fill in the areas within the city limits as opposed to acquiring new land, and noted the potential costs associated with extending utilities and first responder services to that area.
Muenz also suggested that this project “goes against” the city’s priority of being walkable and bikeable, and said she would like to see the project in a different location.
“Even if you have some independent living individuals who would prefer to be able to walk to a grocery store or walk to their doctor’s office or walk to other things, that’s not going to be possible because, even if you wanted to build it so that it could be, it’s incongruous to the city limits,” Muenz said. “That also kind of goes against what we have been trying to build here as a city.”
Ald. Mark M. Foulkes called it a “wonderful design,” but said that there are questions the city still needs answered.
Developer contributions to the school and park districts have also been a question from the city’s perspective. Ald. Ronald Silkaitis, at the meeting, asked about school contributions, and noted that city staff has recommended exempting the assisted living and memory care units from this requirement but not the independent cottages.
“On the whole, it looks pretty good,” Silkaitis said. “There’s a need for senior housing … we’ll see what happens with the details.”
Provided the developer intends to move forward with the project, the next steps would include annexation, rezoning of the property, a special use for a Planned Unit Development and a PUD preliminary plan, per the city. From there, a final plan and final plat of subdivision would need to be submitted before the developer could submit permit applications for site development and construction.
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