A new 48-unit senior apartment complex could be headed for the intersection of Routes 47 and 71 in Yorkville, with developers pitching apartments limited to residents age 55 and older. The proposal comes from the team behind Fox Hill Senior Living, the city's existing senior complex at Route 34 and Sycamore Road, and it cleared an early hurdle this week when the Yorkville City Council offered positive feedback.
Developers Cite Demand From Existing Fox Hill Waiting List
According to WSPYnews.com, Jake Victor, who is associated with Northpointe Development, told the city that Fox Hill's waiting list has swelled to more than 350 people. Victor said some prospective residents call monthly asking when a unit might open up because they want to move in. He pointed to that demand as evidence the city needs more housing of this type, drawing on his own experience running Fox Hill.
The developers visited Yorkville City Hall to gather feedback before taking the next formal steps, the station's report notes. Those steps include seeking funding from the State of Illinois and submitting a full application to the city. On October 27, the City Council reviewed the concept and responded favorably, though the project has not been formally approved and no application has yet been filed.
Zoning Hurdles Still Ahead
Before anything can be built, the proposed development would need both a zoning change and an ordinance variance, per the same account. Those requirements mirror the path taken by the original Fox Hill Senior Living complex, which a three-story, 48-unit project on roughly 3.43 acres at Route 34 and Sycamore Road needed rezoned from B-3 General Business to R-4 General Multi-Family Residence, according to Yorkville Planning and Zoning Commission minutes from a November 2023 hearing. Those same minutes show the commission also recommended allowing density to rise from eight to 14 units per acre for that earlier project, though that record applies specifically to the prior Fox Hill proposal rather than the new one near Routes 47 and 71.
That 2023 proposal was described in the commission's minutes as affordable senior housing split between 36 one-bedroom units and 12 two-bedroom units. Sources differ on the earlier project's exact name: the planning commission minutes call it Fox Hill Senior Living, while a separate Shaw Local report on the City Council's approval of the development refers to it as Fox Home Senior Living.
Part Of A Broader Senior Housing Push
This is not the only senior-focused proposal to surface in Yorkville recently. A separate plan reported by Shaw Local called for 28 single-family homes designed for the 55-and-older crowd on an 8.29-acre site in the Heartland Meadows West neighborhood, north of Blackberry Shore Lane and between Northland Lane and Cannonball Trail.
The city's own data helps explain the interest in age-restricted housing. The City of Yorkville says it has experienced substantial growth over the past 20 years, and notes that dwellings built between 2009 and 2015 were exclusively detached single-family homes. That pattern shifted in 2016, the city says, when it saw its first multi-family age-targeted structure, known as Anthony's Place, built alongside continued single-family construction.
For now, the Routes 47 and 71 proposal remains in its early stages. The developers still need to pursue state funding and file a formal application before the zoning change and ordinance variance can move through the city's approval process.
