‘Dormitory for seniors’ nears OK from Davidson

DAVIDSON — A planned “dormitory for seniors,” as town of Davidson planning manager Ben McCrary describes it, is nearing the end of the town’s approval process.

But despite the collegiate-sounding description, developers have assured the town that the old folks will not be up dancing till dawn at late-night luaus on the shores of Lake Norman which would surround the project, Davidson Retirement Residence.

In what McCrary called “a unique project for the Charlotte area,” West Coast developers and architects plan a sprawling, four-story building with 120 residential, age-restricted suites equipped with kitchenettes and a central cafeteria on the main floor.

The suites would be rentals, not condos, McCrary said, and the age-restricted project would be for independent-living as opposed to assisted-living. Security would be among the services provided to residents, who would also have access to support groups and social functions.

Plans call for the project to be built on one of Mecklenburg County’s few privately owned, undeveloped Lake Norman peninsulas, according to documents on file with Davidson’s planning department.

First proposed in 2010 by developer Hawthorn Retirement Group of Vancouver, Wash., and the Lenity Group architecture firm of Salem, Ore., the project is being reviewed by the town’s planning board. If it wins that body’s approval, it will go before the town’s Board of Commissioners for a final vote. Meeting dates have not been set.

In 2007, other developers proposed a seven-story apartment complex for the site. That project “went away,” McCrary said. But the tract still carries a conditional zoning, which means it was zoned specifically for the apartment project. The new developers are seeking another conditional zoning specific to their project.

The site, owned by Hawthorn, is at the end of Peninsula Drive just south of Davidson Gateway Drive. The tract occupies the entire tip of a small peninsula, known by locals by the unofficial moniker of the Pinnacle, after the name of the failed apartment building, McCrary said.

It’s a spit of land that juts southwestward into the Gambles Creek section of Lake Norman. It lies just south of the Davidson Gateway Industrial Park and just east and across the water from a bridge carrying Interstate 77 over that part of the lake.

The building would have a 33,000-square-foot footprint, according to a site plan, meaning the four stories would constitute roughly 130,000 square feet. The suites would come in studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom models.

The site plan depicts a parking lot with 70 spaces, far fewer than a 120-unit multifamily complex usually requires.

“As our residents generally do not drive, we have adequate space for staff and visitors,” the developers said in a proposal on file with the town’s planning department.

Although the retirement community would have few neighbors — because it is surrounded on three sides by water — developers have assured the town that “we are a quiet senior” facility, “our building is not lit” at night and parking lot lights are “shielded to prevent light bleeding.”

The developers have promised to “preserve significant trees” along the northwest and southeast shoreline and to repair damage from the environment to the northwest shore.

The developers proposed to build a public trail with a trailhead shelter, an open gathering space and a kayak launch to meet Davidson ordinances mandating public access to outdoor recreational and gathering areas in new developments.

Hawthorn Retirement Group has 44 similar residences in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, including three in North Carolina in Greensboro, Salisbury and Southern Pines.

Hawthorn did not respond to phone calls for comment.

Tony Brown can be reached at [email protected], (704) 247-2912 or on Twitter at @tonymecktimes.