Fox Point proposal targets empty nesters
Assisted living beds, apartments planned
The strong demand for highend apartments from older, affluent people in the North Shore region is bringing another major development proposal, this time in Fox Point.
Mandel Group Inc. wants to develop 105 high-end apartments and an 80-bed assisted living facility at the former Dunwood Elementary School site, 217 W. Dunwood Road.
Known as Dunwood Commons, the apartments would target empty nesters who want to continue living in the North Shore after selling their houses, said Ian Martin, Mandel Group vice president of development.
“There’s a significant number of baby boomers looking to downsize out of their homes,” Martin said at a Monday night Fox Point Plan Commission meeting.
The North Shore has a limited number of newer apartments with the amenities those renters want, said Emily Pier, Mandel development coordinator.
She cited the success of the firm’s Beaumont Place apartments, which leased out all 90 units by the development’s summer 2015 opening at 401 E. Beaumont Ave., Whitefish Bay.
The average age of Beaumont Place residents is 60, Pier said. Its monthly rents start at just over $1,500.
Mandel also is pursuing plans to develop The Farm at River Hills, which would include around 400 housing units, including apartments, senior housing, duplexes and singlefamily homes, on 53 acres north of W. Brown Deer Road, west of N. Spruce Road. That proposal, however, is facing strong opposition from River Hills residents.
Other developers are seeing demand for higher-end North Shore apartments aimed at empty nesters.
They include HSI Properties LLC, which on Monday night received a Plan Commission endorsement for its 69-unit Arrabelle apartments proposal in Cedarburg.
Meanwhile, the Monday Fox Point meeting was designed to seek comments from Plan Commission members before Mandel files its proposal.
The firm a year ago agreed to buy the 11.6-acre former school property, near the southeast corner of N. Port Washington and W. Dunwood roads, from the Fox Point-Bayside
School District.
Mandel would demolish the former school and replace it with four twoand three-story buildings, totaling 105 apartments. The firm reduced the unit count from 120 apartments, in two larger buildings, because of concerns from neighborhood
said.
The 80-bed assisted living facility, including units for people needing memory care, is reduced from an initial proposal for 120 beds, he said.
Dunwood Commons would include a separate clubhouse with a community room open to local groups, and public green space.
Mandel eliminated an earlier plan to include a Fresh Thyme Farmers Market, in response to neighbors’ objections, Martin said.
Other features include for apartment residents, and allowing access to the development only from N. Port Washington Road.
Martin acknowledged that some residents remain opposed to the project.
If the proposal proceeds, there will be a public hearing, said Michael West, Plan Commission chair and Village Board president. The project would need board approval.