CICERO — The owners of dozens of senior living complexes have set their sights on Cicero for their next project.
Clover Development is proposing a 119-unit independent senior living complex at 6095 Route 31, west of Torchwood Lane and Cicero Fire Station No. 2. Representatives for Clover appeared via Zoom at the April 14 meeting of the Cicero Town Board to give an overview of the project.
Rob Jack, senior development director for Clover Development, said the company’s 75 properties include Camillus Pointe Senior Apartments, Buckley Square Senior Apartments in Salina and Morgan Square Senior Apartments in Clay. He said about 10 projects already have shovels in the ground.
Zoning consultant Rob Sweet said Clover’s housing is geared toward tenants 55 and older. He said the average age of a Clover tenant is 73, and many Clover seniors are widowed women.
“This is not an assisted living facility, it’s not a nursing home, it’s not a memory care, it’s not a rehab facility,” Sweet said. “This is basically the bridge between folks 55 and over who are looking to downsize from their house and they’re not quite ready to go into an assisted living facility.”
Of the proposed 119 units, 90 would have two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The remaining units would be one- or two-bedroom units with one or 1.5 bathrooms. Units range between 650 and 900 square feet.
“We want to keep the units small. We find that creates a better quality of life because it forces them to get out and mingle with the folks in adjoining units,” Sweet said.
The complex would have about 120 parking spaces.
Clover’s apartments are equipped with accessible features such as lower countertops, grab bars and light pull cords.
Town Councilor Mike Becallo, who is a volunteer firefighter, expressed concern about the project adding traffic to the already-busy Route 31.
“It’s a mess. There are many accidents there right now,” he said of the Torchwood-31 area. “Traffic gets backed up there sometimes all the way to [Interstate] 81.”
Sweet said Clover’s properties are a “low traffic generator,” as tenants tend to go to their appointments or run errands during off-peak hours.
“These folks are on the cusp of retirement or have retired,” he said.
While this was not mentioned at the Cicero meeting, Clover recently was sued by a number of fair housing organizations. Residents of Camillus Pointe, along with CNY Fair Housing and similar organizations in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, filed a suit March 30 in United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, Syracuse Division. The suit accuses Clover of charging tenants higher rent or additional fees for disability accommodations such as accessible parking spaces, ground-floor apartments, grab bars and proximity to elevators.
