Apartment proposal returns

GREENFIELD — A plan for 240 apartments in a business park on the city’s north side is back after five years, this time with a new developer.

Indianapolis-based Crestline Communities is pursuing the development, called Accolade Apartments, on about 28 acres at the northeast corner of Progress Parkway and Opportunity Parkway in Progress Park.

The business park is in the northeast quadrant of State Street and Interstate 70, and is home to a BeijingWest Industries Plant and Elanco Animal Health until it moves to Indianapolis.

Indianapolis-based Justus Companies proposed and received approval for the apartment development in 2017 but never carried through. Due to the amount of time that’s passed and changes to Greenfield’s planning regulations in the time since, the proposal had to be resubmitted in order to move forward once more.

“It’s not as dense as the typical project that we see out here,” said Daniel Hubbard, president and principal of development for Crestline Communities, at Monday night’s Greenfield Plan Commission meeting. “We really liked the site plan.”

Accolade Apartments will have 13 two- and three-story apartment buildings with 12 studios, 78 one-bedroom units, 120 two-bedroom units and 30 three-bedroom units.

Hubbard expects monthly rents to be around $950 for studios and over $1,500 for three-bedrooms.

“That’s hopefully where we can get with interest rates and building prices right now,” he said.

City planning officials welcomed back the proposal.

“The business park itself is a well-planned office and industrial park,” said Joanie Fitzwater, Greenfield planning director. “It is intended to be built with a campus style, with amenities, and connectivity, and trails, and mixed use, and the housing is actually a desirable amenity-type accessory use to the industrial park itself, so we find that it would be desirable to have these apartments here.”

Plan commission member Gary McDaniel served on the commission when the development was first proposed.

“I’m glad to see this come back,” McDaniel said. “We were kind of excited about this.”

Plans also call for attached garages on six of the buildings as well as detached garages, a clubhouse, pool, walking paths, grill area, playground, dog park, bike racks and electric car charging station. Woods that Opportunity Parkway wraps around will be preserved.

Crestline Communities plans to eliminate almost 100 parking spaces from the plan that exceed the maximum allowed by city regulations. Fitzwater recalled the initial developer sought the extra spaces to cater to tenants with discretionary income, particularly short-term Elanco employees, with a need for storage for recreational vehicles and accessories.

The plan commission unanimously approved a development plan and preliminary plat for the project.