Hot Property: In St. Paul, a school site will become senior apartments

Address: 900 Albion Av., St. Paul

Type: Senior housing

Units: 165

Developer: J.A. Wedum Foundation

Architect: Pope Architects

Details: A plan to transform the site of a former St. Paul public school building into new senior housing has received the official go-ahead after securing a needed zoning change.

The St. Paul City Council last week approved the proposal to rezone the 5.5-acre site of the now-demolished Riverview School along West Seventh Street to a "traditional neighborhood" designation, allowing the nonprofit J.A. Wedum Foundation to construct a market-rate, 165-unit senior housing building there.

The 900 Albion Senior Community will feature independent living, assisted living and memory units within a single five-story building. The plans call for a "town center" with a kitchen, dining areas, bistro, exercise room, theater, library, community room and other common areas.

The development will coincide with a plan by the city and Ramsey County to restructure the busy and confusing three-way intersection between Seventh Street, Montreal Avenue and Lexington Parkway in which Lexington will be rerouted through the former school site. The western half of the bisected parcel is planned for a future second housing phase.