Hoover council gives OK for 373-unit senior living community
The Hoover City Council on Monday night gave unanimous approval for an Atlanta development company to put a 373-unit senior living community between Stadium Trace Village and the Scout Creek community in Trace Crossings.
The community, called Celebration Village, will be on 64 acres just south of Stadium Trace Village and along Interstate 459. It is slated to include:
- 198 assisted living units, including a memory care program
- 60 independent living units in another building to be sold as condos
- 56 bungalows with an estimated 2,400 to 2,800 square feet each, priced in the $395,000 to $495,000 range
- 39 cottages with about 1,800 square feet each (for lease)
- Two personal care homes that include studio apartments for 20 people in need of more acute, around-the-clock care
Most of the units in Celebration Village would have one bedroom, but some two-bedroom units will be available, primarily in the bungalows, Hoover City Planner Mac Martin said.
The entire community would be restricted to people age 55 and older, with no children younger than 18 allowed to live there more than 29 days, developer Armand Vari said.
The “heartbeat” of the community is the 30,000-square-foot Celebration Village Club, which Vari said would include a restaurant, bistro, tavern, health club, nail salon, and a craft, hobby and game room.
The community also will include a clubhouse with a pool, grilling area, community garden, putting green, pickleball area and walking trail, said Robin Gregory, a landscape architect working with Vari.
A company called Active Senior Concepts out of Atlanta would run the bulk of the complex, but Vari said he plans to handle construction of the cottages that would be leased. He plans to find a Birmingham area homebuilder to construct the bungalows, he said.
One resident of the Scout Creek community had questions about the buffer between Celebration Village and Scout Creek.
Martin said no buffer was required between two residential communities, but Vari’s company, Jacoby Acquisitions, has committed to put a 65-foot buffer between Celebration Village and the street to the south and at least an 85-foot buffer between the development and the Scout Creek street to the west. The part of the development that would include some commercial elements — the Celebration Village Club — would have a buffer of at least 140 feet between its parking lot and the residential properties to the west, Martin said. That exceeds the buffer that would be required for a commercial development, Martin said.
Jacoby Acquisitions also worked with the Scout Creek community to come up with a potential solution for water runoff problems the Trace Crossings neighborhood has been experiencing for nearly a decade.
Residents of Trace Crossings said they have spent nearly $250,000 dredging a lake next to the Scout Creek community that has been polluted by runoff from construction sites as other nearby properties were developed.
Even though Vari wasn’t responsible for the problems that have plagued the Scout Creek community, he hired an engineer — Mark Gonzalez — who has come up with an engineering plan that city officials and Trace Crossings residents say should help improve their situation and keep it from getting worse.
Access to Celebration Village is proposed to come through Stadium Trace Village.
Hoover Councilman Mike Shaw, the council’s representative on the zoning board, said last month he could think of only positive things to say about the Celebration Village project. “It’s a low-impact, positive development with good amenities for people,” Shaw said.
Martin, the city planner, said the proposed development is a logical use for the property, serving as a transition between the Stadium Trace Village shopping center and single-family Scout Creek residential community.
Hoover Council President John Lyda told Vari and his partners the city of Hoover is glad to have them in Hoover. "We appreciate your partnership and all your investing in Hoover, and we look forward to welcoming future residents to that development as it comes along," Lyda said.
Vari said his company, Jacoby Acquisitions, already has two senior living communities in the Atlanta area and three more in the works there. He likes this location for another one because of the close proximity to the Stadium Trace Village development, including the restaurants and planned amphitheater, he said.
Vari said he and his partners hope to close on the purchase of the property in December and start work on Celebration Village in the first quarter of 2022.