‘It will fit nicely’: $38M assisted living/memory care plan advances in Vernon Hills
A proposal for a $38 million assisted living/memory care facility in Vernon Hills is moving forward in the village’s approval process.
Cedarhurst of Vernon Hills would feature 89 units — 63 for assisted living in a two-story building and a 26-unit memory care wing — at 55 S. Milwaukee Ave., across from the former American Hotel Register site.
Dover Development LLC has a contract to buy three parcels of land there to build the project. The company will seek to annex the two southern parcels into the village, and rezone and secure other approvals to build on the 6.5-acre site.
The project recently was introduced to Vernon Hills village trustees for feedback on its viability.
St. Louis-based Cedarhurst Senior Living, Dover's operating company, manages more the 4,200 units in 55 communities throughout the Midwest and Southeast.
Vernon Hills would be the 10th Cedarhurst in Illinois, joining other suburban locations in Naperville, McHenry, Frankfort, Yorkville and Woodstock.
Patrick Anthon, development manager for Dover, said the Vernon Hills site was chosen because there is an unmet demand for 246 assisted living and 221 memory care residents in the area.
The number of those aged 75 and over is expected to increase in coming years and competing facilities are about 20 years old, he added.
Cedarhurst of Vernon Hills would be a 77,000-square-foot building with a large central courtyard, according to the proposal. It would feature a high percentage of brick, stone and masonry “aligning with the premium architectural aesthetic of neighboring properties,” the developer’s application states.
“We think it will fit nicely in the community,” Anthon said.
Services would include aging-in-place care, restaurant-style dining, housekeeping, wellness programming and shuttle services. The development would have an on-site staff of about 50 and create more than 200 temporary construction jobs.
Groundbreaking is proposed for the fall, with completion in the summer of 2028, Anthon said.
The plan now moves to a detailed review by village staff in advance of a public hearing before the planning and zoning commission, then back to the village board for an official vote.
A proposal by Conor Commercial Real Estate for an apartment and townhouse development on 9 acres immediately north is further along in the village process.
“Both projects can move independently but it's possible for them to use the same access,” to Milwaukee Avenue, Jennings said.
A townhouse development had previously been proposed for the Cedarhurst site, but it did not move forward, said Andrew Jennings, Vernon Hills’ community development director.