McCORDSVILLE — A developer wants to bring more than 100 senior apartments to McCordsville.
Clover Communities has an option to buy about five acres of the nearly 12-acre site behind the Gateway Crossing retail center that houses The Grill restaurant and other businesses.
The firm is proposing a three-story, 119-unit building restricted to residents 55 and older.
Four units would have one bedroom and one bathroom; 91 would have two bedrooms and one bathroom and 24 would have two bedrooms and 1½ bathrooms. Each unit would have laundry appliances, and each floor would have a central laundry facility for larger items.
The building would also have community rooms, and the property would have 85 parking spaces and 38 garages.
Rob Jack, senior development director for Clover Development, said at a McCordsville Town Council meeting on Tuesday that the apartments would be leased at the market rate. The average age of residents at Clover Development senior apartment properties elsewhere is about 74, he added.
The county is expected to face a growing demand for such housing. Older residents — those age 45 and older — make up the largest population in the county.
It wasn’t the first time McCordsville officials received a presentation from Clover Development for a senior apartment building on the site. Last month, members of the town’s plan commission said they disapproved of the proposed project’s architecture before turning down the developer’s request.
Clover Development has since added exterior brick and porch privacy walls to the design to add articulation that the original design lacked.
“It breaks up that long, flat facade,” Jack said.
The town council voted unanimously to send the revamped plan to the town’s plan commission. Councilman Barry Wood, who also serves on the plan commission, said he likes the proposed development’s new design.
“It looks much better than what we saw before,” he said.
Councilman Tom Strayer, who serves on the plan commission as well, agreed.
“There’s a substantial difference between this and what we saw,” he said.
The planned unit development for the area calls for solely commercial developments. Town council members unanimously approved an amendment to the PUD to allow for the proposed multi-family residential use.
McCordsville officials said the exception is justified. Ryan Crum, the town’s director of planning and building, said there currently isn’t a lot of demand for the kind of retail that area could accommodate.
That’s especially true when considering the Gateway Crossing retailers that are already there, town councilman Larry Longman added.
“You can’t do that and be behind another center,” he said.
Those who live in that part of town would agree, according to councilman Branden Williams.
“Speaking with some of the residents back there, that’s not what they really want there anyway,” he said.
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Proposed McCordsville senior apartment building
- Behind Gateway Crossing retail center
- Three stories
- 119 units
- One- and two-bedroom apartments
- 55 and older
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