Type: Senior rentals

Units: 165

Developer: Dominium

Architect: BKV Architects

Details: Multifamily developer Dominium is continuing its recent spurt of senior housing activity with plans for a new affordable apartment complex in Prior Lake.

The Plymouth-based builder is seeking city approvals for a 165-unit, four-story building on the site of a strip mall on SE. Gateway Street, just east of the intersection of Hwy. 13 and SE. 160th Street.

City planners say Gateway Shopping Center, owned by Wells Fargo Bank, is only 50 percent occupied and would be razed to make way for the new independent living complex. Under Dominium's proposal, the new property would be affordable for seniors with incomes at or below 60 percent of the area's median, or $34,860 for a single tenant.

Dominium Senior Developer Ron Mehl told the Prior Lake Planning Commission rents would initially be set at $930 per month for a one-bedroom and $1,120 per month for a two-bedroom unit. The company is tapping federal low-income tax credits for financing and will also seek a local tax subsidy.

Dominium expects to open two other suburban senior housing buildings this year: the 130-unit Cavanaugh in Crystal and the 169-unit Legends at Silver Lake Village in St. Anthony. Last month, it also proposed a 166-unit senior housing complex in Coon Rapids.

The Prior Lake panel changed the parcel's comprehensive plan designation from retail shopping to urban high-density residential.

Don Jacobson is a freelance writer in St. Paul. He can be contacted at hotproperty.startribune@gmail.com.