Type: Senior rentals

Units: 182

Developer: SilverCrest Properties

Contractor: Ryan Companies

Architects: Harriss Architects

Details: A proposal for a $34 million luxury senior housing development in Maple Grove's gravel mining area north of the Arbor Lakes shopping district has advanced with approval of a concept plan.

St. Louis Park-based SilverCrest Development, which has built senior apartments in Eden Prairie and Clive, Iowa, got the nod Monday from the Maple Grove Planning Commission for the outlines of an 182-unit, four-story building along Weaver Lake Road.

SilverCrest's plans call for it to hold 102 independent living units, 32 assisted living units and 48 memory care units, ranging in size from 375-square-foot studios to 1,600-square-foot two-bedroom apartments.

The building would boast a 10,000-square-foot health and fitness center equipped with a therapy pool, a craft room, theater and chapel.

Architecturally, it features towers marking the two-story building entrance, a glass-clad metal roof, stone and brick veneer and several projecting bay elements and porches.

The city, which owns the 19-acre site, and SilverCrest have reached a purchase agreement for nine acres, with an option for an additional 5.4 acres that could be used for 178 more units in a second phase.

The developer's goal is to begin construction in September and open in December 2014.

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