Senior living community with more than 250 units planned near Hamburg in Lexington
A Lexington developer wants to build a 258-unit senior living community that includes multiple buildings and several single-family homes on Todds Road.
Earlier this month, Anderson Communities applied for a zone change from agricultural urban to a multifamily zone for about 8.6 acres behind the Baptist Church at Andover at 3330 Todds Road.
In July, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council turned down a zone change for a different senior living apartment complex on the same property. At the time, many neighbors balked at the Clover Communities design —one large, three-story “L” shaped building — saying it was too big and would dominate thelandscape.
The “V” shaped 8-acre property has neighborhoods on two sides.
Dennis Anderson of Anderson Communities said Anderson’s plan includes breaking up the mass and size of the development into several buildings.
Ten single-family homes will dot the perimeter of the property so that adjoining neighborhoods will be looking at homes, not large buildings, he said.
There will also be landscaping on the sides of the property that border neighborhoods to create an additional buffer and separation between the property and the neighborhoods.
A five-story building with 90 units will be positioned closest to the church building, followed by a four-story, 72-unit building. A three-story building will be located toward the center of the property and closest to the neighborhoods, the plans show.
Another issue with the Clover plan was the entrance and exit into the property. Anderson said company representatives have spoken to church officials who have agreed to allow the development to use its Todds Road entrance. Anderson Communities will build a public road that connects to the church entrance. They will also have a second exit on to Putter Lane. Putter Lane currently dead-ends at the edge of the 8-acre property.
The majority of the apartments will be one bedroom with some two-bedroom options. All the buildings will have elevators. The plans also include a gym designed for seniors and an entertainment coordinator for events.
“We feel like there is a market gap in senior housing in Lexington,” Anderson said. The 258-units will help fill that need. To boot, it’s infill development on underutilized land, he said.
It’s not clear when the zone change for the property will be heard. The Urban County Planning Commission, which evaluates zoning cases, is on an indefinite hiatus due to the current ban on large gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic.
Jackie Long, president of the board for the Andover Neighborhood Association, said Anderson spoke with the neighborhood before filing the plans to determine what the neighborhood’s biggest concerns were. The neighborhood association will hold a virtual meeting soon to look at Anderson’s final plan. There has been no official vote by the association for or against the Anderson Communities’ proposal.
“The big issue was there was no buffer in the Clover Communities plan,” Long said. The building was also too big and dwarfed the surrounding neighborhoods.
Anderson Communities is also the developer of 88 townhouses on land that was formerly the driving range and parking lot of the former Andover Golf and Country Club. Anderson said construction on some of those townhouses would likely begin this spring.
