A new 60-unit senior housing development planned for Festus took a step forward Monday evening when the City Council approved a preliminary plat for Sunridge Meadows.
The plan calls for a three-story building containing one- and two-bedroom units to be built on 4 acres on the northwest corner of Truman Boulevard and Brandon Wallace Way.
Council members voted 7-0 to approve the plat submitted by Ring Property Co. of St. Louis.
Bob Ring, the company’s owner, said the project will cost “in excess of $12 million.”
He also said he hopes to see construction start in a few months.
“It’s still a bit of a moving target,” he said. “We project to break ground September-October. It will take 11 to 12 months to finish the project. We look to begin occupying the building by September 2022.”
Ring expects renters to fill the building as soon as it opens.
“There’s an insatiable need for affordable senior housing not just in Festus, but across the country,” he said.
Ring said he applied to the Missouri Housing Development Commission to receive tax credits for the project and was approved.
“We got the approval in December 2020 for an allocation of federal and state low-income housing tax credits,” Ring said. “The process is very competitive.”
The point of the tax credit program is to make affordable housing available to seniors, he said.
“The whole concept in the allocation of credits is, in exchange, for there to be affordable rentals for seniors. Depending on the income, it ratchets down the rental rates. The range is from a low of $400 a month to a high in the mid-$700s.”
Ring said Sunridge Meadows will offer numerous amenities.
“It will have a fitness room, a computer area and a community room suitable for resident gatherings,” he said. “It will have a management office on site. It will be a first-class building.”
Festus City Administrator Greg Camp said the site where Sunrise Meadows is planned once was targeted for commercial development, but city officials welcome the senior project.
“The needs of the city have changed,” Camp said. “We roll with the demands of the community.”
Ring said the minimum age for residency in Sunridge Meadows is 55 and he expects the application process for the apartments to open once construction begins.
“Our property management will accept reservations whenever we begin to break ground,” he said.
Ring said the project is his first in Festus, but he previously built senior housing around the state, including in St. Peters, O’Fallon, St. Charles County, Kansas City and Columbia.
Ward 4 Councilman Mike Cook was absent from Monday’s meeting.