Council unanimously approved the site plan and final plat April 8 for the senior living facility on the condition that city staff, the fire department and the developer meet to discuss issues with an access point for the fire department.
The details
Watermere on Oak Street will be an age-restricted senior housing development for adults age 55 and older that will cater to independent living, assisted living, short-term living and memory care.
The development will be on 10.85 acres and consist of six buildings to include two apartment buildings and four villa-type buildings, which is a single-story concept with an attached garage.
There will be 252 units total for lease, with 14 of those including the villas, and the rest consisting of one-, two, and three-bedroom apartment floor plans. The apartments will also include 2,000-square-feet penthouses, said Vice President Andrew Chapin from Integrated Real Estate Group, the property owner and developer for the project.
Watermere on Oak Street will include a pool, community kitchen, lounge space, a club house, courtyards, pickleball courts, a salon and a fitness center, Chapin said.
More information
The single-family development is located on the corner of North Walnut Street and Lois Street. It will not be age restricted and the lots will be available for purchase.
The subdivision consists of 5.85 acres total and each of the 30 lots will include a building area of 3,150 square feet. Integrated Real Estate Group also owns this plat of land and is spearheading the project.
Additionally, there are 1.76 acres included in the planned development district that will not be built upon at this time. That parcel of land is owned by a separate property owner, Billy R. Bowen, who approved Integrated Real Estate Group developing on the land when the proposal was initially made.
The land will likely be developed as single-family lots at a later time, Integrated Real Estate Group Development Manager Trevor Armstrong said.
Council initially approved the planned development proposal Aug. 27.
What happened?
The Roanoke fire chief asked for an access point off of Lois Street to first responders and emergency personnel reach the developments in case of an emergency but the developer wasn’t able to put the access point in the plans.
“What he’s proposing basically negates what we agreed on previously with the access for us off of Lois [Street]. He’s come to us now and said that he physically can’t do it with the required grade that our engines and ladder have to have to be able to traverse the road,” Fire Chief Chris Addington said.
Currently, the development has three access points without connecting to Lois Street, so the fire department would have to use those entry points, which may cause some complications and increase the response time if there is traffic, Addington said.
The developer is asking the fire department and city to approve the site plan as is. City Council approved the plan with the contingency that city staff and the fire department meet with the developer to come to an agreement about the access points.
Though representatives from the Integrated Real Estate Group team believe that the project will move forward as planned, if the city asked for an additional access point, that will push the revised plans back to City Council for approval.
What’s next?
Once the city and developer come to an agreement on the access point, construction on the project could start at the end of 2025 for both the subdivision and the senior living facility.
Watermere on Oak Street is expected to take two years to complete with pre-leasing beginning in 2026 and the complex opening in 2027, Chapin said. There is no construction timeline for the single-family subdivision, he added.
