An Austin developer had their zoning request approved for a proposed senior housing community project during Tuesday’s meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission. – Virtual Builders Exchange

Feature Illustration: Artist rendering from Parkwest Drive looking north at the project by In Site Architects.

Posted: 1-9-2022

by Art Benavidez

Cedar Park (Williamson County) — An Austin developer had their zoning request approved for a proposed senior housing community project during Tuesday’s meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission.

The 6.9-acre property will convert from neighborhood business (NB) to planned development-mixed use (PD-MU) zoning.

The site is located at 400 W Park Street in the central portion of the city.

Robert Wall with Periscope Capital Investments, LLC is proposing to develop Harden Grove of Cedar Park, an 81,565-square-foot, three-story to six-story vertical mixed-use building with approximately 28,700 square feet of retail and personal service uses and 178 units on the upper stories.

“For us, the biggest value proposition with senior living is social connectedness (and) bringing intergenerational communities together,” Wall said. “Building a community around a more dense high touch environment that focuses on wellness, parks, nature and family activities.” 

Periscope Investments specializes in senior living development projects. 

The project will include architectural elements including projecting bays, balconies, loggia, canopies, pediments and moldings to break up the size of the building.

Andrew Evans with the Austin office of Kimley-Horn is on board the project and released an exhibit site plan that showed a senior housing building, the expansion of Parkwest Drive, 2.85-acres of green space, a pool and a pond.  

Dawn Wieczorek with St. Paul, Minnesota-based In Site Architects represented the project to the commission and submitted a letter to the commission that stated a market study found that senior housing was needed in the city. 

“To date, there is no senior living project that is proposed in or around this area. We believe a diversity of residents contributes to a more vibrant community for family-oriented activities,” she said.  “The senior housing will be comprised of 130 independent living senior dwelling housing units, and 48 memory care resident rooms, with the ability to flex the memory care to Assisted Living use in the future, depending on market needs.”

Wieczorek added that the project was an age-in-place facility that would provide assisted living  with Alzheimer and residential units, with the majority of residents expected to be 75 years of age and older.

The independent units will include living, sleeping, dining, and full kitchen areas, laundry, storage, a deck or patio from each apartment, with sunrooms in many apartments, along with safety and security features specifically for seniors such as walk-in/roll-in showers, grab bars and 36-foot doors, she added. 

Wieczorek said the memory care units will include living and sleeping quarters with most combined into one space, closet and bathroom, with shared  dining, living and outdoor spaces.

“Residents will enjoy a large, elevated second floor terrace with outdoor dining, grilling, seating and views to the nature area to the south,” she said. “The terrace will also connect to the pool on grade and to the walking paths around the pond feature and through the existing mature trees on site.”

Additional amenities will include a club room, game rooms, family rooms, party room, 238 total parking spaces with 44 angled parking spaces and 224 parking spaces within two levels of a parking garage of the building.

The average building height is 43 feet with 68% of the building at 35 feet or less and exactly 22 feet at the terrace, 35 feet at the north and west sides, and 70 feet at the east side.

The building will consist of Austin limestone or cultured stone in similar style, stucco and cementitious concrete.

In addition, panel materials(Hardie or Hardie-like) will be utilized, along with accent panels of wood and glazed tile roofs and sloped roofs with clay tile at the pedestrian level and architectural shingles at high points of the roof.

The building will feature articulated recesses, projections, canopies, display windows with design facades of varying materials and colors, along with screening from trash and mechanical equipment

GLM Great Lakes Management (GLM), out of Plymouth, Minnesota will manage the development once it is completed. 

Sabot Development, Ltd., an Austin based commercial real estate development firm, currently owns the property. 

City Council is expected to hold a first reading on the recommendation at its Feb. 10 meeting and a second at it’s Feb. 24 meeting.

VBX Project  ID: 2022-06E6

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art@virtualbx.com