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Hoover council OKs 154 age-restricted apartments, 10 cottages in Trace Crossings

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Site plan provided by city of Hoover

The Hoover City Council on Monday night voted 5-1 to give approval for Signature Homes to build 154 “active adult” apartments and 10 rental cottages as part of the Knox Square development in Trace Crossings.

The apartments and cottages will be built on 6.5 acres along Stadium Trace Parkway across from Hoover Metropolitan Stadium and between Discovery United Methodist Church and 118 single-family homes previously approved that will be known as Knox Square.

The apartments and cottages will be “age-restricted,” meaning that at least one person who lives in them must be at least 55 years old, and no minors under the age of 19 can live there more than 60 days in a calendar year.

Developer Jonathan Belcher, president of Signature Homes, said residents in the nearby Chestnut Ridge community repeatedly asked him to put something on the property other than a hotel, and he promised them he would seek another alternative.

The company has had such good success with its single-family home communities restricted to residents age 55 and older that it wants to offer a rental option for people in that age range as well.

He envisions about two-thirds of the apartments would have two bedrooms, while the other third would have one bedroom. The typical size should be 800 to 1,200 square feet, and he anticipates rent would be $1,800 to $2,400 a month, he said. There should be about 10 different floor plans for two-bedroom apartments, he said.

The proposed name is Knox Square Apartments. Most of the complex should have three stories, but there will be a portion on the corner with four stories, Belcher said.

He considers it a viable option for people who don’t want to pay $400,000 to $500,000 to get into a three-bedroom home in a 55+ community such as Abingdon by the River, he said.

His plans include a 10,000-square-foot amenity building with multi-purpose rooms and a fitness center, a pool and outdoor grilling and activity areas, he said. The complex would be an independent living center, with no central food service or medical or nursing services, according to Signature Homes’ zoning application.

The $40 million apartment complex should generate about $180,000 a year in property taxes, Belcher said.

Numerous residents of the Abingdon community, another 55+ community right next to the Knox Square development, in early November objected to the idea of putting apartments there when the Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission considered the proposal and recommended approval.

Some of the residents said then they feared it would decrease their property values and add more traffic to what they consider to be an already crowded Stadium Trace Parkway. But no one spoke in opposition to the apartments and cottages at Monday’s council meeting.

Casey Middlebrooks was the only councilman to vote against the apartment plan. Middlebrooks said Signature Homes is going to build a great community there. He doesn’t doubt the quality of their product, but he believes allowing apartments there is going to “fast-track development” on that property before proper infrastructure is in place to support it.

The city is working to create an alternate route for traffic to get in and out of Trace Crossings and Blackridge, but that route is not in place yet.

Belcher likely will have the apartments built before that route is in place, but if the property were to remain for commercial use, it could take longer for the development to occur and allow more time for infrastructure to get built, Middlebrooks said.

Councilman Curt Posey said he voted in favor of the apartments because he believes there is demand for this kind of housing in the 55+ age bracket. Not everyone in that age bracket can afford or needs the larger homes that are in other 55+ communities, Posey said.

He also believes apartments are better for that site than a hotel or gasoline station, he said. Also, making the apartments age-restricted generates property taxes for the school system but doesn’t add to the student population in schools, he said.

Belcher said it likely will take six to eight months to get the apartment complex fully designed and permitted, but he hopes to get started with construction by the end of 2022 and have apartments built and available for rent sometime in 2024.

In other business Monday night, the Hoover City Council:

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