Assisted Living Building Expansion Proposed Along Southern York Avenue

A 76-unit expansion to the Continental Gardens Senior Living apartment building is in the early phases of development, undergoing sketch plan reviews with Edina's Planning Commission and City Council.

The development already went before the Planning Commission, where members generally seemed to support the new building at 7151 York Avenue. The proposal would create a "senior campus" by adding a four-story building to the east side of the existing 12-story one, which would largely house assisted living residences focused on higher levels of care.

Terri Cermak, president of Cermak Rhoades Architects, presented the plan to Commission members, stating the idea of expanding on the existing structure naturally came up as renovations were being considered to the current building.

"We were looking at it with the idea of how you could make a low-impact transition into higher levels of care for housing," Cermak said. "Allowing residents to stay in their neighborhood, stay next to the people they already know and have relationships with."

The building would include a mixture of memory care, private assisted living apartments and more complex assisted living and memory care units.

An elevated skyway would connect the new assisted living building to the existing 264-unit senior apartment structure, increasing the density on the 5.85-acre site from 45 units per acre to 58 units per acre. Edina's Comprehensive Plan currently describes high density residential zoning—the site is zoned Planned Senior Residential District—as 12-30 units per acre.

Planning Commission feedback largely related to connectivity, energy-saving measures and efforts to get the two buildings to blend together as one cohesive campus. And while much was not made of the density issues created by the development, Commission members said it could be an issue down the road.

"We're not saying density is just going to go away as an issue," Commission Chair Kevin Staunton said. "There are ways to make it more palatable for the City and some of us are willing to be persuaded if the right kind of project comes along."

The project will go before the City Council for an additional sketch plan review at its Tuesday, May 7 meeting.

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