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Home My WebLink About[05c] Senior Housing OptionsCITY OF ST. JOSEPH VVV.cityof stioscph.com Date: May 19, 2010 Memo To: Members of the EDA City Administrator Weyrens For background, please note that housing for seniors is provided by St. Joseph Apartments EDA Memo From: Cynthia Smith - Strack, MDG, Inc. Administrator 1999, which offers assisted living in 20 units. Judy Weyrens RE: Senior Living Options — St. Joseph Mayor The 2008 Comprehensive Plan Update identifies providing a variety of life -cycle housing Al Rassier Background: Tom Skahen At the previous EDA meeting a member of the public addressed the EDA regarding living Councilors options for seniors who have grown up in the community. The EDA directed the item be Steve Frank placed on the May EDA Regular Meeting agenda for discussion. In addition, the EDA Bob Loso asked that research be performed on available statistics relating to senior housing in St. Renee Symanietz Joseph. Dale Wick For background, please note that housing for seniors is provided by St. Joseph Apartments EDA with 16 income /age restricted units constructed in 1988 and Arlington Place, constructed in Carolyn Yaggie- 1999, which offers assisted living in 20 units. Heinen Ken Jacobson The 2008 Comprehensive Plan Update identifies providing a variety of life -cycle housing Al Rassier options (including senior units) as a goal. Tom Skahen Dale Wick I've reviewed the market study completed by McComb Group and have found very minimal statistical analysis relating to senior housing demand /supply. Perhaps most enlightening are comments from real estate agents that were included in the study (attached). Also attached please find a table from the 2008 CPU illustrating no vacancies were reported at either Arlington Place or St. Joseph Apartments in 2008. Finally, attached please find an update of a St. Cloud Area Housing Study initially completed in 2005 and then updated in 2009. The section attached specifically relates to the City of St. Joseph. Action: Discussion regarding the subject is kindly requested. new residents. All realtors cited the difference in school districts as a deterrent to purchasing homes in St. Joseph. The fact that St. Joseph is a part of the St. Cloud School District is perceived as a negative, while Sartell schools are considered superior. Additionally, Sartell is being recognized for its recent growth and added amenities. General opinions of the realtors are positive for the community of Sartell with one realtor stating that Sartell was the "Minnetonka of the St. Cloud" area and another felt it was the "up and coming ". When asked what could be done to increase housing development in St. Joseph, the realtors felt that St. Joseph needed to expand retail and service businesses. They currently feel that there is "nothing there ". They also felt that new schools and a separate school district would entice new residents to St. Joseph. Only one realtor felt that St. Joseph didn't need more development. Purchasers in St. Joseph tend to be first time homebuyers and primarily younger families and couples. The majority of the home shoppers are willing to pay between $150,000 and $200,000 for a single family home. According to interviewed realtors, in general, the sale prices of homes in the area range from $120,000 to $400,000, with $500,000 being the upper end of the market. �. 7 altors felt that there were also empty- nesters that would like to sell their homes in St. Joseph in order to move into some type of senior housing. These residents desire to own their homes rather than lease /rent; however, the options to do this are rather limited within St. Joseph. The current senior housing inventory in St. Joseph is considered old and not appealing. Realtors feel that the senior condominium or cooperative form of development and ownership has not been popular within the area and has been slow to catch on; however, there are a few successful condominiums in St. Cloud and Sartell. Summary Home purchasers view St. Joseph positively and like its small town atmosphere. Small town, however, is inconsistent with home purchasers' desire for expanded retail and services. Most v homebuyers are seeking homes in the $150,000 to $200,000 range. Upper bracket homes sell in the $300,000 to $500,000 range. Condominiums or cooperative senior housing development has been slow to evolve. Patio homes have been popular with seniors, which are seeking new housing options. A supermarket would improve the prospects for senior housing. 5 -5 z O 2 Z 0 �Q Lu�- WZ J W m � ~a W 0 y d m a L6 a� CL t U I a g E „ o p U r CL 0 0 0 a U R co 0 0 N Iloilo Iloilo 1 MINION I NIN IN 0 oilmen allmoliallims ININININININE Illial Iloilo d m a L6 a� CL t U I a g E „ o p U r CL 0 0 0 a U R co 0 0 N Nousing Demand - Market Rate ■ 2009 Ownership Update: Attempts to obtain a new inventory of residential lots through the St. Cloud Association of Realtors were unsuccessful. However, based on the AdMark research from 2005, it is believed that a large supply of lots still exists within the St. Cloud area. Information was available for the City of St. Cloud through the Planning Department. Within the City limits there are between 1,200 and 1,300 improved residential lots in active residential subdivisions. Over the past five years, the City has averaged fewer than 150 new single family housing starts per year. This annual average is significantly impacted by 2008 and 2009 production, which is well below the longer -term average. Still, in 2009 the supply of vacant residential lots is adequate to meet the new construction demand for the near - future. No updated lot inventory information was obtained from the other Cities in the Study Area, but when AdMark's information from 2005 is compared with housing starts, a large unused lot inventory should also be present in St. Joseph, Sartell and Sauk Rapids. As identified in the earlier section titled Housing Inventory Data, the level of new home construction has slowed dramatically when compared to the first half of the current decade. After 2005, the level of new home construction in the five -City area dropped to 508 houses in 2006. It then continued to decline, with 300 single family units in 2007 and only 91 new houses in 2008. Although only partial -year information is available for 2009, it appears that production will be even lower than in 2008. In 2005, AdMark had made what appeared to be a conservative projection that area would need lots for 1,000 new homes by 2010. This projection was relatively accurate, as approximately 950 new ownership units have been constructed through August 2009 in the five Cities that form the St. Cloud area. With the available lot inventory being much larger than demand for new construction, there is no evidence that additional subdivision development is needed at this time. There may be certain segments of the market that can be successfully developed, based on housing type, pricing, location, or similar factors. Overall, however, there is no compelling reason to expand the supply of residential lots in 2009. City of St. Joseph 2005 Rental Recommendations: Despite the caution that was advised for new rental development in St. Cloud in 2005, there were some significant rental unit recommendations made within St. Joseph. Overall, between 152 and 216 additional units were recommended to serve various subsets of the rental market, including upscale senior housing, upscale general occupancy units, more moderate rent town houses and apartments, and some limited subsidized housing for low income renters. 2009 Rental Update: Based on building permit issuance, no multifamily rental housing has been built in St. Joseph since the 2005 Assessment was completed. The rental survey completed for this Update was focused on the entire St. Cloud area, and was not as City- specific as the AdMark Assessment. As a result, fewer rental properties were surveyed in St. Joseph. However, the newest rental project in St. Joseph, Boulder Ridge Apartments was included in the 2009 survey. Boulder Ridge reported no vacancies, and is at the u2vne; of the range for contract rents in St. Joseph. is St. Cloud Area Nousing Study Update - 2009 56 Mousing Demand - Market Rate ■ In 2009, the City of St. Joseph has a limited number of rental housing options, and has only one market rate general occupancy project that has been built within the last 15 years. Based on this information, it may be appropriate to proceed with some of the new rental unit production that was recommended in the 2005 AdMark Assessment. However, any developer of new market rate housing would need to be aware that the overall vacancy rate in the St. Cloud area remains above - average, and that competition for tenants has resulted in suppression of rent increases over the last few years. 2005 Ownership Recommendations: In the 2005 Assessment, AdMark had projected demand for 112 new ownership housing units in an average year in the St. Joseph Study Area through the year 2010. Since the Study Area boundaries extended beyond the City limits, AdMark expected approximately 75% of the demand to be located within St. Joseph. Based on subdivisions that were either planned or developed at that time, they indicated that adequate capacity existed to facilitate this growth. In fact, AdMark projected that a 10 -year supply of residential lots probably existed in 2005. 2009 Ownership Update: After the 2005 Assessment, new housing construction activity in St. Joseph and the remainder of the St. Cloud area slowed dramatically. Between 2006 and August 2009, cumulative building permits had been issued for 112 new houses, the number that had been projected annually for the Study Area at the time of the 2005 research. As a result, it would appear that St. Joseph still has more than a 10 -year supply of residential lots, based on the recent pace of construction. Sartell 2005 Rental Recommendations: Despite the caution that was advised for new rental development in St. Cloud in 2005, there were also some rental unit recommendations made within Sartell. Overall, between 84 and 110 additional units were recommended to serve various subsets of the rental market, including upscale senior housing, upscale general occupancy units, and moderate rent apartments. The development recommendations were tempered by the fact that the vacancy rates in different types of rental housing were high in Sartell in 2005. AdMark was projecting that future household growth in the City would absorb the vacant units and create demand for additional unit construction by 2010. 2009 Rental Update: Since the 2005 Assessment was completed, new rental production in Sartell has greatly exceeded the unit recommendations made by AdMark. Based on building permit issuance, there have been 444 new multifamily rental units constructed in the City. Much of the recent housing construction has been on a senior housing campus that provides a wide range of options. The Heritage Place project is a 107 -acre development that is being constructed in smaller phases. Since 2005 there have been 127 apartment and 24 town house rental units for independent senior living, 49 units of assisted living and 48 units of memory care housing developed. Other rental projects in Sartell outside of Heritage Place include an 82 -unit apartment that is under construction in 2009, 82 units of upscale rental housing, and 16 units of fully accessible housing for disabled tenant s;. ■ St Cloud Area Housing Study Update - 2009 57