Landmark Edina church could add senior housing

With its distinctive bell tower and gray clapboard buildings, Colonial Church of Edina looks a bit like an old New England village.

Now the church with the picturesque covered bridge and lake alongside Hwy. 62 could get a new addition: a 150-unit assisted-living complex for senior citizens.

The proposed $35 million to $40 million Waters Senior Living of Edina would sit between the church and Hwy. 62, on what is now a tree-shrouded parking lot. If the city of Edina gives the project the go-ahead, construction likely would begin a year from now. The Senior Living building would open in the spring of 2012.

"We think this will be the nicest senior living in Edina," said Jay Jensen, one of the principals of Waters Senior Living. "Edina is a gray city. ... The closest competition is a building we manage, and it's full. Market studies show demand many times of what we're building."

The proposal cleared its first hurdle recently when its preliminary plan won approval from the city's Planning Commission. The City Council will hold a hearing on the project Feb. 16. After that, it will have to go back to the commission and the council for final OKs.

City planning staff support the project. But at the planning meeting, commission members and some city residents raised concerns. Neighbors were particularly worried that standstill traffic that develops on Tracy Avenue as Edina High School students drive to and from school could grow even worse.

Concerns also were raised about the removal of mature trees and about whether the city really needs another development that serves senior citizens.

"I'm concerned about a 150-unit development that may not go anyplace," he said. "What can you say to assure us that this will be a successful project?"

Jensen acknowledged that some developments for seniors are struggling, but he said they are aimed at active seniors. He said the nearest similar assisted-living facility is the Colony at Eden Prairie, which his firm also developed. That complex is full and has a waiting list, he said.

At the Eden Prairie building, three-quarters of residents moved from homes that were three miles or less away, he said. The rest had children who lived near the facility. Jensen said he expects the same pattern to be repeated in Edina.

Ted Yoch, who led a church task force that looked at how the spare land could be used, said it concluded that the best use was senior housing. The Waters group was selected from 13 proposals because of its track record in Eden Prairie, he said.

The church would sell six acres of land to the Waters and be a minority owner in the development. Jensen said church members would get priority on reserving apartments.

Jensen also addressed other concerns that had been raised. He said the average age of residents at the Eden Prairie residence is 86, and very few of those residents, who are mostly women, drive, he said. Visitors most often come on weeknights and weekends, after peak driving times, he added.

More than 330 trees would have to be removed from the site to make room for the new building, but most are scrubby trees such as box elders, Jensen said. About 18 percent of the trees that would be removed are oaks. The project's landscape plan calls for protecting mature trees near the lake and planting more than 200 larger trees and almost 600 small trees and shrubs. Evergreens would be planted between the new building and the highway, partly to mask the road noise.

The four-story building would have two dining rooms, a library, a billiard room, a chapel, rooms for games and crafts, a therapy pool and a walking track. The facility would offer wellness classes and training.

Residents would choose their apartment and the services they need would be delivered to them, Jensen said. There would be two 14-unit sections for people with memory problems.

Jensen proposed that 30 of the 150 units be designated "affordable" for people on restricted incomes. But if that is to happen, he told the Planning Commission, the project would need city help through tax increment financing or another subsidy. While some planning commissioners bristled at that request, Jensen later said that both Minneapolis and Eden Prairie used tax increment financing to help assisted-living projects in those cities move along.