Builder curtails senior housing plan

By Paul Leighton
Staff writer

January 09, 2009 05:24 am

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BEVERLY — The company that wants to build a large senior housing development on Conant Street has scaled down its proposal in hopes of winning the city's approval.

Oregon-based Holiday Retirement Corp., one of the country's largest developers of senior housing, now wants to build 172 rental apartments in one four-story building and nine one-story duplex "cottages."

The original plan last summer called for 238 apartments in four, four-story buildings.

"It's significantly smaller," said Kristin Newland of Curry Architecture in Salem, Ore., which is designing the project.

The complex would be built on nine acres in the Cherry Hill Industrial Park at the corner of Conant Street and Cherry Hill Drive, near the Danvers line. The land is owned by the Flatley Co., which owns Cherry Hill Industrial Park. Newland said Holiday Retirement has an option to buy the land once it gains approval for the project from the city.

The company withdrew its original plan last year after opposition to its size and proximity to Beverly Airport. The development would be about 2,500 feet from the airport.

Paul Vitale, chairman of the Beverly Airport Commission, wrote a letter in September asking the Zoning Board of Appeals to require soundproof materials on the buildings' roofs, walls and windows and also require renters to sign an "airport noise disclosure" statement.

Vitale said yesterday the buildings themselves would not be a hazard to airplanes. But he said airport commissioners want residents to be aware of the potential noise problems caused by the more than 70,000 arrivals and departures every year. His letter said aircraft will pass over or near the property at altitudes of less than 1,000 feet.

"If 300 people are living there, we don't want 300 phone calls," he said.

Vitale said airport officials would prefer a scaled-down project, both in terms of the size of the building and the number of people.

"The lower the building, it makes it safer and quieter," he said.

Newland said she didn't know how much the apartments would rent for, but described them as "affordable." Fifteen percent of the apartments are required to be subsidized, making them more affordable, she said.

The project would cost about $13 million, she said. If the project is approved, Newland said construction could start in the summer and take a year to complete.

The company is scheduled to present the new plan to the Zoning Board of Appeals on Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

CONANT STREET PLAN

172 apartments for seniors

One four-story building

Nine one-story duplexes

On edge of Cherry Hill Industrial Park, near Danvers line

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