A new development is likely coming to a long-vacant tract on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, as the Frankfort City Commission heard the first reading Monday of an ordinance changing the site’s zoning designation to accommodate a senior living community.
Last month, the Frankfort-Franklin County Planning Commission unanimously approved the zoning change for the 26-acre tract to “Limited Commercial District” (CL). The land is northwest of the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and the East-West Connector.
The change would allow a senior living facility to be built at the site, which is now largely undeveloped. Prior to the zoning change, only a small corner portion of the lot was zoned for commercial use while the rest was zoned residential.
The property is owned by Prescient Frankfort 1 LLC, and the latest proposal for the development includes a 120-unit senior living facility with the potential for expansion. Total indoor area of the project is slated to total over 100,000 square feet. A portion of the complex is set to take up two floors, while some will remain single-floor.
There is also potential for future development of the site, per preliminary plans.
A first reading of the ordinance was read at Monday night’s city commission meeting, with no commissioner speaking against the development.
Proclivity Senior Living, a development company tied to the project, completed the proposal. Founder Stephen Bolt was present at both the planning commission’s January meeting and the city commission’s meeting on Monday. Bolt is also the founder and president of Prescient Frankfort 1.
Bolt said it would be a $34 million “senior community project.” He also projected construction to begin in the fourth quarter of 2021.
The Proclivity project webpage for the Frankfort development says the company completed a market study that showed the need for such a facility.
The population of the United States in general is aging, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
At the recommendation of city development staff, members of the Frankfort-Franklin County Planning Commission passed the zoning change with the stipulation that the company return to the commission with its development plan once complete.
Though planning staff, in a report to the planning commission, noted that the development does not exactly fit the Comprehensive Plan's future land use map, they still found its impact to be positive.
"Development of this facility would appear to have a positive economic impact on the community," the report read. "... The proposed use will promote the stability, preservation and vitality of the existing immediately adjacent uses as well as fit the character of the surrounding neighborhood."
Organizers listed for Prescient Frankfort 1 are Bolt, Troy Williams, Jimmy Bevins, Michael Smithson and Steve Hall.
Smithson and Hall are both local health care professionals. Bevins is an entrepreneur and former chairman of Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife.
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I heard that there are 1 million of us in the 1 C group to be vaccinated- that’s the ages between 60 and 70 - And that’s a good reason or “ sell” for a senior living community, for that age group as they get older.
the latest proposal for the development includes a 120-unit senior living facility with the potential for expansion. Total indoor area of the project is slated to total over 100,000 square feet.”
Yet more proposed apartments in the near future to join those on Versailles Road east, near Kroger shopping Center, and upon him factory hill near Jim’s seafood.
All of which have a far more scenic location than the proposed Capital Plaza Redevelopment plans, where those apartments will be down in the bottom and have a great view of the two adjacent office buildings, as well as the adjacent proposed parking garage and the back of the Old Capital.
That was even more pressure on the developers, Johnson and CRM, to get the city and county to pay for not only the parking garage, but the apartments located in that area. These developers aren’t going to want to put their own money into a project that is so risky, as can be seen by the way they’re pressuring the city and the county for money. The city and the county will probably pay for any development through a long term TIF, that will result in our grandchildren paying for the project.
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