A downstate assisted living company plans to enter the Chicago area for the first time with a newly approved facility in Mundelein.
Construction on Carriage Crossing Senior Living’s new facility, which will be marketed toward people 55 and older, could begin by late June, said Carrie Bentley, operating officer of Carriage Crossing.
During a meeting May 13, Mundelein trustees approved plans for a three-story building with 94 residential units on 7.5 acres near Midlothian Road and Courtland Street. Of those units, 78 will be for residents using assisted living services and 16 will be for a memory care wing, officials said.
Features of the new facility include a beauty shop, coffee shop, library, fitness center and movie theater, as well as outside dining for assisted living residents and an enclosed courtyard for the memory care wing.
Bentley said the facility will employ the equivalent of 42 full-time employees, including nurses, certified nursing assistants, dining staff, physical therapists and activity directors. Medical staff will be on site 24 hours a day, she said.
The company first presented concept plans to village officials in August 2018. Bentley recently said that while searching for new locations, including sites in Addison, Elgin and Chicago, her real estate broker insisted on visiting the Mundelein site.
“We loved the little hometown feel, and it’s a great community,” Bentley said. “The location is perfect for what we want to do. We prefer to join a neighborhood instead of the commercial look and feel.”
Carriage Crossing already has locations in Bloomington, Decatur, Arcola and Champaign, with another project underway in Rochester, she said. Clients in those facilities typically are around 85 years old.
With plans to serve residents 55 and older at the Mundelein location, Bentley said the company intends to focus marketing efforts within a five-mile radius of the property, which is nestled between two subdivisions and the incoming Orchard Meadows project.
While competition may come from several facilities in Vernon Hills and also the Winchester House, which is relocating from Libertyville to Mundelein, Bentley said a market study showed demand for assisted living services in the area as aging Baby Boomers are expected to significantly increase a growing elderly population.
For Mundelein officials, two similar projects have been approved for the site near Midlothian Road and Courtland Street as far back as 1999 but neither of them started because of economic conditions, officials said in a memo.
“I think it’s great that you’re coming to Mundelein and offering something like this for our own residents to have close by for family members or whatnot. It’s really a nice addition to town,” said Trustee Ray Semple.
Mayor Steve Lentz said he’s especially grateful that Carriage Crossing plans to leave a large cluster of existing trees on the site, which would serve as a buffer between the new facility and the neighboring Orchard Meadow townhouse subdivision that’s being constructed.
Mundelein did not waive any impact or utility fees under the recently approved redevelopment agreement for the proposal, said Village Administrator John Lobaito.
Carriage Crossing agreed to pay a $100,000 impact fee to the Mundelein Park District, as well as an approximately $39,000 impact fee to the Fremont Public Library, he said.
K. Hovnanian Homes, who is the developer building Orchard Meadows, also extended a portion of Courtland Street and widened Midlothian Road to create a right turn lane onto Courtland from southbound lanes and a new left turn lane for northbound traffic.
Carriage Crossing will reimburse K. Hovnanian Homes approximately $165,385 for a portion of that expansion cost since it will benefit from those new roads, according to the redevelopment agreement.
Bentley said construction should take a year once work begins in late June, weather permitting.