    For Sale
    For Lease
    Both

$7.5 million senior housing complex will help fill a void for metro-east

<< Back

12/22/2008

BY SCOTT WUERZ
News-Democrat

With senior housing in the area in short supply, construction is expected to begin next month on a $7.5 million senior apartment complex in the Wingate Development.

Called Wingate Manor, the complex will include 96 one- and two-bedroom apartments to be built in two phases. The first is expected to open in summer 2009.

"A need for senior living centers has been identified in the area," said Merri Cross, spokeswoman for St. Louis-based developer Gundaker Commercial Group. "There are few choices for seniors right now, and the similar complexes in the area have waiting lists to get in."

Cross said the apartments will be a place where empty-nesters can shed the burden of caring for a big house and yard but still maintain an independent lifestyle.

"There will be amenities on site like a community room, a fitness center and a hair salon," Cross said. "The apartments will be either one bedroom with one bath or two bedrooms with two baths."

St. Clair County Housing Authority Director Dave Wagner said senior housing has been short in the metro-east for years. He said the County Housing Authority has 360 total apartments for seniors and not only are they filled, but he has a waiting list of 240 people.

"I know the demand is growing because we just had a huge purge of our list," Wagner said. "We checked with people that were on it to make sure that they were still interested and took off all the people who were not, so that's a bare-bones number."

Senior citizens -- those 65 or older -- represent 12.5 percent of the population in St. Clair County and 13.5 percent of the population in Madison County, according to U.S. Census Bureau data collected in 2006. The state average is 12 percent. And the number will only increase as baby boomers continue to hit retirement age.

Wagner said another center is being planned for Centreville, and a developer is pursuing tax credits to build yet another in Caseyville.

Wilma Schmitz, chief operating officer for the Belleville Chapter of the Area Agency on Aging, said the need for senior apartments is nationwide.

"The federal government offers some subsidized housing, but it comes with income limits," Schmitz said. "In many cases, the middle class is left out."

Schmitz said the high demand for private units can push rent as high as $2,500 a month, which is well beyond the range of most people.

"Housing is only supposed to account for 30-35 percent of your budget at the most," Schmitz said. "They can't afford to pay $2,500 for rent, and that is why a lot of people are staying in their homes when they can't get up and down the stairs."

Cross said units in the new apartment complex will rent for $560 to $660 a month. Because the development will be built with tax credits, she said, Gundaker is required by the government to make three of the units available at $255 a month.

According to the Belleville chapter of the Area Agency on Aging, senior-specific housing in the area includes: Adeline James Building, Touchette Elderly Apartments and Valley Ridge Senior Apartments in Centreville; Amber Court, Merrideth Memorial Retirement Home, the Apartment Community at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows, Bel Plaza I and II, The Carriage House, Grand Court, Gwendolyn Court and St. Clair Village in Belleville; The Cedar Ridge Apartments in Lebanon; The Fountains in Shiloh; and Garden Place in Millstadt.
Shiloh Village Engineer Norm Etling said the construction of the apartments is expected to begin in January with the first phase -- 48 units -- open this summer.

"A lot of the infrastructure work in the area is already completed," Etling said. "Streets for the commercial component of Wingate are already in."

Wingate will be along Green Mount Road north of Belleville's Green Mount Manor and Green Mount Commons. It includes 25 acres for a new elementary school, four condominium units, 268 single-family homes and 135,000 square feet of retail and office space in addition to the senior apartments.

The elementary school will be part of the Mascoutah School District.

Contact reporter Scott Wuerz at swuerz@bnd.com or 239-2626.

2Q Retail Trends Report