By Lindsey Sullivan | lsullivan@alextimes.com
City Council approved plans for a new West End senior living facility at its public hearing on Saturday.
The new facility will be located at the intersection of King and Beauregard streets as part of the West Alex development, which also includes a new Silver Diner restaurant and soon-to-open Harris Teeter grocery store. The applicant, Benchmark Senior Living, is a New England-based senior living provider.
With the approval, council granted a development special use permit for Benchmark at West Alex and permitted an increase in height from 100 to 120 feet. The plans were approved by a vote of 6-1, with Councilor Mo Seifeldein dissenting.
Seifeldein said that he didn’t think a senior living facility was well suited to the economic needs of the West End. The site had previously been approved for a combined retail and office space.
Duncan Blair, an attorney who has been working with the West Alex project since 2012, said that in addition to the 75 anticipated full-time jobs the facility will create, the overall project has increased the area’s walkability, especially since it is situated at the Alexandria/Arlington border.
“This is a transformational project; It has really changed this area,” Blair said. “Arlington was very excited about making the community more walkable. It was not a walkable community [before] other than going to Five Guys.”
Carson Lucarelli, an urban planner in the Department of Planning and Zoning, said the seven-story assisted living and memory care facility will consist of 117 units. Additionally, the project will include three auxiliary grant subsidized units priced below market rate.
The 20-foot increase in height that council approved was requested in order to create an outdoor rooftop space for residents. This increase puts the planned height of the building at 120 feet, with 102,430 total square feet of space.
Lucarelli said the surrounding community was engaged in the planning process, including the Fairlington Citizens Association, the Commission on Aging and the Alexandria Housing Affordability Advisory Committee, who also endorsed the project.
Councilors Del Pepper and Amy Jackson expressed their enthusiasm for the planned facility, both noting the project’s “impressiveness.”
Eric Garner, director of development for Benchmark, said the facility will provide residents with programming, transportation, housekeeping, dining, security and other amenities, such as living rooms, libraries, a wellness center with exercise equipment, yoga and massage studios and medical treatment centers.
The baseline rent, anticipated to cost between $6,000 and $10,000 per month for each resident, will include each resident’s rent and utilities, medical care and assistance and access to amenities. The subsidized units will be priced around $1,600 per month.
Garner said Benchmark will not charge high entrance fees that similar facilities usually require as part of signing on to assisted living. He said Benchmark also plans to provide packages above the baseline cost for residents who want extra amenities or care, including memory care.
Seifeldein raised several concerns about possible fiscal impacts that could result from changing the space from office and residential to a senior living facility. He said that because the West End is not as revitalized as some other areas in the city, he felt that the original plans were better suited to fit the economic needs of the community.
“I think it’d be shortsighted for the council to approve this just to finish the project, and I think the West End is being short-ended here,” Seifeldein said.
Lucarelli said he believed the project would contribute to the already vibrant residential community and meet the rising demand for senior housing.
The reason that West Alex developers decided to amend the original plans, Blair said, is because the office market in Northern Virginia has “drastically changed.”
“The location was not economically viable for either an office user or the property owner to move forward as an office use,” Blair said.
Blair added that he also believes the trade off of uses in the plans will not have negative fiscal impacts for Alexandria. He explained the 75 anticipated job opportunities will supersede any that might have been created by the originally planned space.
Mayor Justin Wilson voiced his enthusiasm for the project, citing the access it will provide to seniors looking for a facility in the community.
“There is an incredible demand for these services in our community and not a lot of supply,” Wilson said. “And so you are forced to go to far-flung areas to make these services happen for your family, and they are incredibly expensive and very competitive, and so I think increasing the supply of that certainly helps.”
