Fayetteville retirement community planned

FAYETTEVILLE -- A large housing complex for senior citizens is planned on an open field northwest of Arkansas 112 and Truckers Drive, near Sam's Club and across the highway from the 112 Drive In.

Members of the Fayetteville Planning Commission's Subdivision Committee on Thursday unanimously recommended approving a development proposal for the Grand Retirement Community.

Fayetteville Planning Commission

The Planning Commission is scheduled to review plans for the Grand Retirement Community during a 5:30 p.m. meeting Aug. 10 in Room 219 of the City Administration Building, 113 W. Mountain St.

Source: Staff Report

"It's a beautiful project," Commissioner Janet Selby said. "I think it's just going to be a positive for that part of the city."

The full Planning Commission is scheduled to consider the development Aug. 10.

If approved, the project will feature a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in a 109-unit main building and 55 row house-style cottages scattered throughout the 20.5-acre site.

The main building will have a dining room, theater, hair salon, gift shop, pool and fitness center.

"The facility is designed for healthy people over 55," said Trey Jackson, one of several investors in the project with Fort Smith-based 1913 Capital, this week. "It's not a care facility. It's just senior living."

Developers will be required to extend Truckers Drive about 700 feet from where it ends in front of Springwoods Behavioral Health.

They're also being asked to pay the city $65,000 to help build a multi-use trail on the southwest edge of the property. The trail will be part of the Clabber Creek Trail, which will eventually extend west to Holt Middle School.

City engineers are waiting on the results of a wetland assessment before they're ready to sign off on the project. Construction will be restricted within 50 feet of a spring-fed stream running through the property. The stream feeds the more than 120-acre Wilson Springs preserve south of Sam's Club.

The 20.5-acre parcel where the Grand Retirement Community is planned is one piece of a failed 140-acre development called Park West that City Council members approved in 2006.

Park West was supposed to include 1,750 residential units and 856,000 square feet of commercial space but was never built.

Pruitt Land Management bought the Grand Retirement Community acreage in January for $895,000 from Legacy National Bank, according to Washington County property records. The land was deeded to 1913 Capital in June.

Fellowship Bible Church of Northwest Arkansas is constructing a 63,000-square-foot building on another 26 acres of the former Park West site just north of the Grand Retirement Community property.

The retirement community's 164 units would make it one of the largest senior living facilities in the area.

Butterfield Trail Village off Joyce Boulevard in northeast Fayetteville has 270 apartments and cottages for independent living, said Melinda Silva, director of marketing. The continuing care retirement community also has assisted living units for up to 15 residents and 87 beds in a skilled nursing home.

The Gardens at Arkanshire, an independent living complex across Thompson Street from the Springdale Country Club, has 130 units.

The Apple Blossom retirement residence at 2501 N. 22nd St. in Rogers has 117 apartments and cottages.

NW News on 07/31/2015

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