Maranatha Conservative Baptist Home expansion 5401-5415 69th Av. N., Brooklyn Center
Type: Skilled nursing care (phase I), senior apartments (phase II) Beds: 97 Units: 38
Area: 7.06 acres Developer: Presbyterian Homes Housing and Assisted Living
After downsizing its initial proposal to overcome the objections of neighbors, Presbyterian Homes Housing and Assisted Living has won the approval of Brooklyn Center city officials to expand and redevelop parts of its Maranatha Conservative Baptist Home campus in the city.
The first phase of the project would include construction of a 97-bed skilled nursing care facility to replace the current home, which was built in 1959 and expanded in 1994.
The new nursing home would go up on what is now a parking lot next to a 64-unit assisted living apartment building; those apartments would remain.
In the second phase, the old nursing home would be demolished and a 2 1/2-story, 38-unit independent living senior apartment block would be built in its place.
The plans, when introduced earlier this year, brought objections from neighbors over the proposed second phase. Residents whose back yards abutted the site said that its original four-story height and closeness to their property lines were unacceptable.
In response, the developer reworked the plans to reduce the height of the new addition and set most of it back 100 feet from the neighbors. That earned praise from the Brooklyn Center City Council, which on June 25 unanimously approved the use of a planned unit development zoning designation for the Maranatha project.
The first phase is scheduled for completion in 2013, with the second to follow within three to five years, Presbyterian Homes says.
Don Jacobson is a St. Paul-based freelance writer. He can be contacted at hotproperty.startribune@gmail.com.
