A proposal for a senior living facility on Langston Blvd received mixed marks at a site plan review committee (SPRC) meeting last week.
The project by Kensington Senior Living won praise from some for generally meeting the spirit of the 2023 Langston Boulevard Area Plan. However, others criticized some design elements, a lack of affordable units and insufficient retail space along Cherry Hill Road.
The seven-story, 90-foot building just west of N. Upton Street would replace a 1970s-era building that most recently had been home to a Coldwell Banker office.
The plan calls for 100 assisted living/memory care suites on the first six floors of the building, plus 10 residential units on the seventh floor. All units are expected to be rental properties.
A total of 103 parking spaces are proposed for the site, along with just over 3,000 square feet of retail space fronting Cherry Hill Road, facing Lee Heights Shops.
The proposal “generally meets the site-design and layout recommendations” of the Langston Boulevard Area Plan, said Peter Schulz, a county planner who is staff liaison to the SPRC, on July 27.
The proposal calls for a floor-area ratio of about 4.1, significantly higher than anticipated for that segment of Langston Blvd, but SPRC members seemed more concerned with other aspects of the proposal.
Alisa Cowen, representing the Donaldson Run Civic Association, took issue with the limited amount of retail proposed along Cherry Hill Road on the opposite side of the strip shopping center.
“I feel very let down by that,” she said. “We were hoping to reinvigorate and amplify existing retail.”
Instead, “it’s really minimal,” Cowen said of the retail component.
Several SPRC members, including Audrey Kremer, representing the Commission on Aging, were unhappy that the developer might choose to provide cash for the county’s Affordable Housing Investment Fund rather than provide on-site affordable units.
“We have an enormous need for affordable assisted living,” she said, pointing to the recent termination of assisted living operations at Culpepper Garden.
Another issue, raised by Joe Ventrone of the Housing Commission and others, was the need for a canopied off-street vehicular pull-in to the building.
Overall, the project seemed to be generally acceptable to the Waverly Hills community.
“It is in accord, in our view, with everything in the Langston Boulevard Area Plan,” said Sandi Chesrown, representing the Waverly Hills Civic Association on the SPRC.
The July 27 meeting focused on land use, architecture and site design elements. Other aspects of the proposal will be taken up at a second SPRC meeting on Sept. 17.
The project will then move to review by various advisory panels and, ultimately, the County Board.
Kensington has been eyeing redevelopment of the site for nearly a decade, but held off until adoption of the Langston Boulevard Area Plan and additional work on the corridor’s roadway network.
The for-profit firm is eager to get going, said Michael Rafeedie, a partner.
“Arlington has not had a new senior-housing development in over 25 years. We’re excited to be hopefully the first,” he said at the SPRC meeting.
Kensington Senior Living is locally based and has developed eight projects to date, including facilities in Falls Church and Reston.
