Revised senior living complex proposed

Beachwood-based Omni Senior Living continues its pursuit of a senior housing project in Mentor.

The company is back with a revised proposal for 5.65 acres at 8150 Mentor Hills Drive, southwest of Interstate 90 and Route 615.

Omni seeks to build two, three-story buildings consisting of 144 total units in a 129,600-square-foot independent living facility with a 58,000-square-foot assisted living/memory care section.

“There is a change to the plan that will consolidate the assisted living and memory care facilities into one building,” city Planning Director Kathy Mitchell said. “Previously, the memory care was behind the assisted living facility.”

In addition, the latest proposal calls for up to 63 independent senior living villas in one-story,

attached ranches ranging from 1,200 to 1,500 square feet. The villas would be built on about 20 acres south of the Symphony at Mentor and Heartland of Mentor facilities.

The city Planning Commission will hold public hearings on the following prerequisite at the March 5 meeting:

• Conditional-use permit to allow senior independent living villas in the B-1 Community Service District

• Conditional-use permit to allow multi-unit senior assisted living and independent living in the B-1 and MRD Community Service and Research/Development districts

In addition, the commission will consider an amendment to the previous development plan for the villas and preliminary

site plans for both facilities.

The permits are requested by applicant Gary Biales of Omni Senior Living and the Vera Keck Family Trust, property owner.

Omni in September 2018 received preliminary approval from the commission for a 146-unit project with 88 independent living units within a threestory wing, 40 units in a two-story assisted living wing and 16 units within a single-story memory care wing.

The new plan calls for connecting the buildings with a common hallway. The east end of the building would house 16 memory care units on the ground floor, and 40 assisted living units on the second and third floors of the 57,939-square-foot section.

The project is a smaller version of what was proposed in the Newell Creek development in February

2018.

That plan, which also included 19 single-family villas on the south side of Norton Parkway near Garfield Road, was denied by Mentor Planning Commission. It was viewed as a significant departure from the office designation on the property.

The latest proposal for Mentor Hills Drive is considered consistent with the site’s original approved development plan from 1982, which indicated 300 apartment units, cluster ranch units and a nursing home, according to the city administration’s report to the commission.

“The plans put forth for consideration address a growing need for a diverse variety of housing for seniors in the Mentor community,” city Economic Development Director Kevin Malecek said.

The administration is requesting that an overall street plan be provided for

the villas that indicates the private road network and the connection to Mentor Hills Drive.

The proposal also includes access to Garfield Road via a 60-foot ingressegress easement. This drive appears to be located outside of the easement area at the southwest corner of the Symphony of Mentor property, the report says.

The Fire Department is requiring a second means of access to this portion of the overall development. The developer is exploring the access to be for emergency vehicles only, provided through the Heartland of Mentor site.

The property has a long history of development proposals:

• In 1970, City Council approved rezoning 55 acres from R-C, Single-family Residential to MRD, Research and Development.

• In 1982, Council approved rezoning 27-plus acres from MRD, Research

and Development to B-1, Community Service for a 100-bed nursing home and 300 clustered homes for the elderly. The nursing home, Heartland of Mentor, was built in 1984.

• In September 1994, City Council approved rezoning about 12 acres from MRD, Research & Development to B-1, Community Service for an Alzheimer’s facility with 52 rooms and a three-story, 150-unit residential care facility. The Alzheimer’s facility, Kemper House, was built in 2000.

• In November of 2004, a development plan was submitted for 48 single-family detached units and seven four-story apartment buildings on about 29 acres, but the commission voted to dismiss the plan without prejudice.

Since then, Symphony at Mentor, an Alzheimer and dementia care facility, opened in the Kemper House location.