Lilydale club considered for senior living, other apartments

Drivers on Sibley Memorial Highway can easily spot a huge warehouse-like building with a "For Sale" sign when approaching Lilydale.

The vacant 100,000-square-foot facility surrounded by weeds and a metal fence is the former site of the Lilydale Tennis and Fitness Club -- and a recurring headache for the city.

Now, developers have submitted concept plans to turn the site into a senior living complex and luxury apartments, and the Lilydale planning commission should review the preliminary plans and request for a planned unit development at a meeting Thursday.

If approved by the city, Lilydale Senior Living would have a mix of memory care, assisted living and independent living units. There are plans for the building to have a beauty salon and therapeutic tub room, among other amenities.

Lilydale Apartments is designed to be a three-story apartment building that would provide luxury one-bedroom, one-level residences as well as two-story, two-bedroom units.

The buildings would total about 170 units and share a parking lot and underground garage. Designs have not been finalized.

Russell Wahl, a building official for the city, said that it was too early to make a decision about the project, but he said he is excited to see something happening.

The club has been closed since 2006. That year, the city approved initial plans by developer Mendota Homes to turn it into a condo development, but financing for the project reportedly fell through. The site is now in foreclosure.

Mendota Homes head John Mathern, who met with architects and city staff members last week, declined to comment on the concept plans until after the planning commission meeting.

According to Minnesota secretary of state files, Mathern is listed as the manager of Lilydale Commons LLC, the property owner and developer that submitted the concept plans.

"It's been vacant for four and half years," said Lilydale Mayor Tom Swain. "That's regrettable. The tennis club served the residents well. Now, it's showing some promise again, and I hope that this development can be worked out. We'll have to wait and see."

Swain said he was pleased that family-owned Southview Senior Living is the proposed operator of the senior facility. The West St. Paul business and Highland Bank paid the down payment required for the city review of the redevelopment, said city clerk Teish Stafne.

TIF districts allow cities to funnel money back to the developer from the expected increase in property taxes on a site. That means the developer gets money for up-front construction costs while the city neither gains nor loses tax revenue compared to what it's already getting.

The most expensive TIF-sponsored project would be eliminating a Clear Channel billboard located on the river bluff on the site.

Last month, the City Council agreed to decertify what was then its only TIF district, which it created in 1999 to replace a gravel pit. The site is now the 28-acre commercial and residential Stonebridge development.

"My personal opinion is in order to ultimately get the tennis club development accomplished, some TIF assistance will be in order," Swain said.

Chris Harich, one of the owners of the Lilydale Garden Center, which is next to the tennis club, said he thinks his neighbor is well overdue for a facelift. "It's been pretty sloppy the last couple of years, because nobody has really taken care of it," he said. "It's been an eyesore."

"We're going to try to be excited and hope everything goes according to plan this time."