Shawnee has advanced plans for a new senior housing development in the central part of the city.
Located on about eight acres on the northeast corner of West 63rd Street and Maurer Road, Shawnee Senior Villas comprises 42 multi-family units in a single three-story building.
The site, near Swarner State Park and the Shawnee Mission School District Softball Complex, is currently vacant and surrounded by other mixed residential developments.
Andrew Danner with North Star Housing LLC, a developer based in Grain Valley, Mo., said they hope to fill a gap in Shawnee’s housing market, particularly for adults 55 and older who are looking for no-maintenance housing options where they can age in place and stay in their community.
“It’s our position in looking at these developments and communities that we prefer and feel that the senior housing opens up more opportunities for the community in general,” Danner said. “We think overall, housing in general is desperately needed. We just feel that senior housing is a two-fold thing.”
Danner also suggested that this development will have a ripple effect on the city’s already-tight housing market.
“With the needs and the overall long-term plan that Shawnee has, we feel that senior housing in this location can help free up existing housing stock within the community for younger families and millennials who are looking to purchase a home while allowing the seniors to age in place or live in the same community that they wanted to.”
Below are some additional design renderings for the project.
After roughly 15 minutes of discussion about the project and the accompanying walking trail the developer will add to the site, the Shawnee Planning Commission voted 8-0 to approve a development plan and rezoning of the site from agricultural to planned unit development mixed residential.
Commissioners Genise Luecke, Carol Norman and Steven Wise were absent.
One neighboring resident spoke in favor of the project.
“I just want to say that I think you guys did a great job,” said Howard Mann. “I’ve got no objections to it. Thought I’d throw that out there. My mom lives in Shawnee Hills [retirement community] right across the street, so I understand the need for the senior housing.”
The Shawnee City Council is slated to consider this project July 26.
