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Politics & Government

Mount Tosa Developer Seeks Revised Housing Mix

City puts request to swap out condos for assisted living on one-month hold.

A request to replace 40 condominiums with a 67-unit assisted living facility in the Mount Tosa development at North 113th Street and West Walnut Road received a lukewarm reception from the city.

The problem, Mayor Jill Didier told developer Helmut Toldt at a Plan Commission meeting Monday, is that the proposal is a significant departure from the original plans to develop the site as a "trendy, WiFi community with an urban feel."

The city sold the 17.3-acre former landfill site to Toldt in December, choosing his development plan over others for its diverse, high-value mixed residential proposal, Didier said. She and other commissioners said they were concerned about how assisted living fits with that vision.

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Toldt's original Mount Tosa plan calls for creating a high-end mix of urban housing, with two- to four-story apartment, townhouse and condominium complexes and a total of 40 condominiums, up to 307 apartments, and an 80-unit senior housing apartment building. The buildings would feature Craftsman style architecture, and the site would include pond features, tree-lined streets, landscaping and pedestrian pathways throughout the property.

So far, only the senior apartment housing project is underway.

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Toldt said his request to amend the original plan and incorporate an assisted living facility springs from a depressed housing market that within the past 12 months generated only 13 condominium sales within the city. To move forward with new construction of 40 new condo units, Toldt said, "would be putting a three-year supply on the market, which is not prudent."

"Frankly, the assisted living component was never on the radar," Toldt said. "The marketplace has dictated changes."

Amending the Mount Tosa Neighborhood development plan raised concerns among commission members, who unanimously agreed to hold the proposal for a month to allow the developer and city staff to meet one-on-one to put the assisted living housing request into context with how it fits with accomplishing a development akin to the original proposal.

"I don't want to see it turn into a checkerboard of whatever the market will absorb whenever a building is being built," said commissioner John Albert.

Toldt said that condominiums were not off the table for good, but for the interim. Once the development is solidly underway and has some completed project elements in place, he said, the quality of the development will attract potential condo buyers within two or three years.

"We think there is a market for the condominiums we proposed, but not today," Toldt said. "There are too many uncertainties for buyers and they want to see the quality of the development first."

Toldt said the assisted living facility would neighbor and complement an 80-unit independent senior living housing project, called , currently under construction on the site by Horizon Design Build Manage of Madison. That project is on a 2.6 acre parcel within the Mount Tosa Neighborhood Development.

The proposed three-story assisted living facility would be developed by Alternative Continuum Care, LLC, of Madison, according to the project's architect, Bradley Servin of Verona-based Architectural Design Consultants, Inc. The assisted living proposal calls for 31 one-bedroom and 16 studio assisted living units, and 20 memory care units.

Horizon's $11 million senior housing project is expected to be completed in spring 2012. The project is funded in part through an allocation of tax credits from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA), as the housing is targeted for seniors who qualify based on income levels.

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