Senior housing developer shifts focus to St. Clair acreage west of Eddy Center

Another senior housing developer is shifting its focus to build in an area of St. Clair, but it may be a while before the latest project breaks ground.

St. Clair city officials got an update earlier this week on a proposal previously planned for the Jordan Creek area and headed by the Common Sail Investment Group.

Now, they’re hoping to move forward on five acres just west of the Eddy Center for a $16.8 million three-level, 55-unit complex for senior residents instead.

“All these units will have in-unit washers and dryers. They will all have dishwashers. They will all be sort of what I would consider to be state-of-the-art apartments,” Eric Tuomey, vice president for development at Common Sail, told City Council members last Monday.

“In addition to that, while not designed quite yet, we will have on-site transit vans (for which) we would like the opportunity to partner with the broader St. Clair area for seniors and maybe the area’s agency for aging,” he said. “It pays to provide services not only for this development but to other opportunities for other buildings in the area. … We’ll have onsite health services, (a) pharmacy, (and) we’ll have behavioral services if needed.”

How did we get here?

Although a previous iteration of their proposal has been before St. Clair officials, Tuomey said they opted to pursue another nearby opportunity to develop senior housing after running into issues related to a floodplain and eligibility for a financial boost from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.

He said they looked at the old St. Clair Middle School, which is still owned by the last St. Clair Inn developer under SMDRP, LLC., but found its restrains weren’t conducive to the scope of their plans.

They also looked at Gearing Elementary School, which is still in operation but slated to close, and the land just east of it, which is has been tapped for another development from Buildable Senior Living.

To move forward, Tuomey said they brought the vacant acreage that shares a parcel with and is just west of the Eddy Center under contract earlier this year.

Both the Gearing school and former Eddy Elementary School — developed into the mixed-use, namesake center within the last couple of years — have been picked up by Eddy Development LLC, through the St. Clair County Landbank.

Rob Drewek, a principal for Eddy development group, said the original deal with the county meant repurposing Gearing and Eddy, which have fronts off Carney Drive and Ninth Street, respectively, and turning the land in between the two into residential housing based on “whatever the city will allow.”

“Essentially, that’s what’s happening,” he said. And so far, he said they felt lucky to pick up interest for the vacant land. That space is bordered entirely without existing road access on the north and south side by homes and other parcels along Vine and Adams streets.

“Quite honestly, I was really concerned that we’d ever find any uses for that land," Drewek said. "You know, a landlocked piece in the middle of town is tough. It’s really tough. So, we’re very fortunate to find Build Senior Living that took that piece in front and then Common Sail."

So, what comes next in Common Sail's plans?

As of this week, Drewek said the Eddy parcel’s split was contingent on the Common Sail project moving forward.

Tuomey said they have a Dec. 1 deadline to apply for MSHDA funding, expecting to hear back by next April and spending much of the remaining year of 2024 in the design phase. Breaking ground would come in 2025, if successful, with the hopes to be leased-up and in rental compliance in 2027.

The development official said they’d later come back before the city for rezoning and council support on a payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, agreement and municipal services agreement. They’d also require, as shown to officials in a rough layout, some sort of access drive off Adams Street in addition to access along the Eddy Center to Ninth Street.

To help move plans forward, Tuomey added they're working with a not-for-profit co-developer, as well as the St. Clair Housing Commission.

The project itself would feature 35 one-bedroom units at 650 square feet and 20 two-bedroom at 850 square feet.

In addition to health and transit services, there would be onsite property management, a 2,000-square-foot community space, and “though not designed yet,” Tuomey said there was “room for a dog park in an interior courtyard.”

The independent living facility would target those age 55 and older and seniors of a more middle income. In his presentation Monday to St. Clair officials, Tuomey pointed to U.S. Census data and seniors over the age of 65 with incomes ranging from $35,000 to $50,000 a year.

“I cannot tell you how many conversations I’ve had about (there not) being enough affordable housing for seniors,” Drewek said, referring to housing affordable to those of moderate incomes. “I mean, that’s pretty much every community you go to, where can an older couple or an older single person live?”

Drewek added he couldn’t “think of a better use” for the five acres west of Eddy “than giving a place in St. Clair where people can live.”

“To me, it’s a no-brainer,” he said. “And on top of that, it goes back to the tax rolls.”

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Senior housing developer shifts focus to St. Clair acreage west of Eddy Center