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Hot Property: Cobbletone Lake senior campus
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COBBLESTONE LAKE SENIOR CAMPUS
SE. corner, 157th St. W. and Cobblestone Lake Parkway, Apple Valley
Type: Senior rental housing
Units: 214
Size: 404,000 square feet
Developer: Oxford Senior Funds
Start date: Early summer
Details: With single-family home sales in a continuing downturn, big master-planned suburban communities such as the 323-acre Cobblestone Lake in the southeastern corner of Apple Valley haven't seen as many construction crews moving through them as they once did.
One exception to the slowdown, however, is senior-citizen housing, where two such projects are in the works at Cobblestone.
The privately financed Cobblestone Lakes Senior Campus from Rochester-based Oxford Senior Funds is the much larger of the two. Apple Valley's Planning Commission has approved the necessary rezonings and site plans for the effort, which will see 214 units of senior rentals going up along the southwestern shoreline of Cobblestone Lake starting early next summer, assuming the Apple Valley City Council gives the final thumbs-up next month. Construction should be completed within 18 months.
The senior-citizen campus will provide a key multifamily housing element to the Cobblestone Lake community, which is being built by Tradition Development of Northfield, Minn. Tim Trimble, co-founder of Oxford Senior Funds, said the campus is in the "continuum of care" mode, meaning that it will offer market-rate independent living (152 units), as well as assisted living (32 units) and memory care (30 units), with residents able to move into homes offering greater levels of services as their needs increase.
"Good senior housing is offering a lot more these days," said Trimble, whose firm is also working on the conversion of a historic schoolhouse in Cannon Falls into senior apartments. "One of the unique features we'll have at Cobblestone is a special focus on wellness, including a small health club for seniors. We really concentrate on doing programs and activities that emphasize this."
Trimble also emphasized that Oxford is investing in the property and the Cobblestone Lake community for the long haul -- its philosophy is to own and manage its own properties as long-term investments, a stance that he said helped the project win the approval of the community's residents.
"There's a general recognition in Apple Valley, I think, that there's need for these kinds of continuing care communities, with both independent and assisted living elements," Apple Valley Community Development Director Bruce Nordquist said. "The needs of the elderly population have become more sophisticated."
The other multifamily project planned at Cobblestone Lake is an affordable senior-citizen rental building proposed by Dakota County. Apple Valley has signed off on the 60-unit Cobblestone Lake Senior Apartments, which could closely follow the Oxford project if the county can secure a $557,000 Metropolitan Council grant to be used for land acquisition.
DON JACOBSON
Don Jacobson is a freelance writer based in St. Paul. He can be contacted at hotproperty.startribune@gmail.com.
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