A shuttered senior living facility near the Illinois Central College campus in East Peoria is expected to find new life as an apartment complex.
Developers plan to convert the former Accolade Healthcare of East Peoria building at 500 Centennial Drive into residential rental units ranging from studios to two- and three-bedroom apartments.
“The amended proposal will be consolidating 100 of the units down to 50,” said Kim Rooney, a manager for Mathen Realty Services representing Accolade EP Rentals. “We feel like that will more accommodate the market, more like if we were to design [the building] from scratch what we would do.”
Rooney addressed the East Peoria City Council at Tuesday’s meeting, prior to a unanimous vote approving special use allowance for the multi-family redevelopment in a location zoned for senior-focused housing.
Initially, developers sought an allowance to have fewer than the 1.5 parking spaces per unit required under city code. However, reducing the total number of apartments will eliminate the need for any waiver.
“They are, with the current proposal, a little over-parked,” said Ty Livingston, the city’s planning and community development director. “But one of the things that they shared with the zoning board at that meeting was that they intend to look for some complementary uses in the one-story portion.”
Livingston identified a daycare center and a dog grooming facility, tenants and community members, as potential amenities that could be added to the development.
“As the facility builds out, it would make sense to have those amenities there. So the additional parking, the over parking right now for that ratio, would likely go to that. But right now, they do have ample parking spaces for the units proposed.”
Rooney said the market-rate units currently are projected to see monthly rents ranging from $700 for the studio apartments to $1,600 on the high end for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom unit. Responding to a question from Mayor John Kahl, Rooney said the project does not include any low-income housing subsidies.
Commissioner Dan Decker said East Peoria has been eager to see the site developed after the nursing home closed in March.
“We were always concerned [about] what’s going to happen with the property because it was quite a big loss when the nursing home closed,” said Decker.
Answering a question from Decker, Rooney said increasing the number of multi-bedroom units is intended to broaden the appeal of the complex.
“[It’s] more desirable to a variety of different residents; we’d be welcome to anyone,” she said. “There’s a lot going on in this community, from students to businesses. So we want to be able to appeal to everyone.”
Renovation will be phased over two years, with the first tenants expected to move in by late summer or early fall next year.
Commissioner Mike Sutherland expressed some reservations regarding a hillside bus stop on Centennial Drive, suggesting the possible inclusion of a bridge in place of a crosswalk.
“We’re really excited to be getting positive feedback, that other people are considering it. So we’re open to conversations about how to improve that,” said Rooney. “We want to make it as accessible and safe as possible, so [we’re] open to those conversations, for sure.”
