New housing for seniors may be heading to Charleston.
The municipal planning committee approved a resolution that allows the city to sign a memorandum of understanding that allows the city to accept dedication of a road leading into the new center after it's completed.
The senior center, tentatively named Crossing at Southridge, would be on a 9-acre lot currently owned by Bible Center off of Corridor G at the edge of Charleston city limits. The land is on Peyton Way, just down the road from Kanawha County Metro 911's headquarters. Peyton Way currently is a private gravel road past the headquarters.
Dan Vriendt, Charleston's planning director, said the language of the resolution allows it to be non-binding.
"This is not actually dedicating the street," Vriendt said. "This is just saying if they build it to city standards that the city will accept the street."
Roanoke, Virginia-based Smith/Packett Med-Com, LLC will be developing the center. It will be operated by Harmony Senior Services, a Smith/Packett affiliate.
"It's a nod to them saying that we're on board with this project," Vriendt said.
The plan for the four-story, 190,000-square-foot independent living facility calls for 186 housing units including 90 independent living units, 64 assisted living units and 32 memory care units.
It would be Smith/Packett's third facility in West Virginia. Two currently are under construction in Morgantown and Martinsburg.
Harmony Senior Services currently is operating more than a dozen senior centers, and more than a dozen are under construction. Charleston is one of about 40 markets Smith/Packett is considering, Winn Bishop, senior vice president of development and construction for Smith/Packett, said.
The facility would have restaurants, a barber, physical fitness centers and other amenities on site, said Leeann Budzevski, a development coordinator for Smith/Packett.
Somewhere between 110 and 120 new jobs would be created at the facility. While there's no specific age limit for the facility, Bishop said most of the residents of their other facilities are over the age of 80.
The project is expected to cost Smith/Packett about $35 million, Bishop said.
When Bible Center purchased the land more than a decade ago, Lee Walker, the church's executive pastor, said the church had plenty of goals on how to develop it.
One of those goals was to sell a portion of the land to someone who would create senior housing. Walker said they'd talked with other developers over the years, but it didn't feel right until Smith/Packett reached out to them.
"Smith/Packett, when they came to us it just clicked," Walker said "We're very enthusiastic about it."
The development also will allow all of Bible Center's property to be developable to city standards, Vriendt said.
Reach Ali Schmitz at ali.schmitz@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4843 or follow @SchmitzMedia on Twitter.