Apartment complex proposed on Highbridge Street

TOWN OF MANLIUS – A new apartment complex targeting residents 55 and older has been proposed for the vacant 8.7-acre parcel adjacent to Brookdale’s memory care facility on Highbridge Street.
Last week, the development team for the proposed Garden Park Apartments made an initial presentation for a three-story apartment building that would include 78 units – a mix of one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. Plans call for one parking space per unit underneath the facility and a second parking space outside.
The developers are seeking a zone change from Commercial A to R-5, which is the town’s high-density residential zone.
“Your comprehensive plan talks about satisfying the needs of housing in the community,” said attorney Chris Danaher, who is representing the developer. “I think this squarely fits that.”
Most of the building would be 34 feet tall, but the roofline along the entranceway and on the sides would be slightly higher. That height is somewhat deceiving, however, said landscape architect Scott Freeman of Kepplinger Freeman Associates, because the site is about 15 feet below Highbridge Street and is bordered on the back by a 100-foot cliff.
The site, which at one point was a quarry, has become somewhat derelict over the past few years, as dozens of loads of rocky fill have been dumped on the site.
Denise Root, the executive director of Brookdale’s memory care facility next door, said she sees the proposed apartments as an opportunity for perhaps the spouse of one of her residents to live nearby.
“Brookdale’s very excited about it,” Root said. “This would be the perfect compliment.”
On Wednesday, the town board forwarded the proposed zone change to the planning board for its recommendation, which is the traditional procedure for zone change requests.