photo by: Submitted photo

A rendering shows the entrance and dining area for a proposed senior living community that plans to build on vacant ground near Theatre Lawrence in northwest Lawrence.

Plans for a new retirement complex in northwest Lawrence are moving ahead, but now the developers are seeking some city assistance in the form of a tax break.

As we reported in October, a St. Louis-based group plans to build 53 units of assisted living and 22 units for residents in need of memory care on a vacant piece of land in the Bauer Farm development, near Sixth Street and Folks Road.

The project, which will operate under the name Cedarhurst Assisted Living and Memory Care, has filed its final development plans with the city, and they largely are unchanged from October.

What is new, however, is that the development group is seeking a tax break from the city, although it is not seeking a full property tax abatement. Rather, the company is seeking to avoid paying about $230,000 in sales taxes that otherwise would be due on the construction materials used to build the new facility.

The development firm, Dover Development, is asking the city to approve industrial revenue bonds for the project. The issuance of the industrial revenue bonds, which technically makes the city temporarily an owner of the property, comes with a multitude of potential tax breaks. One of them is an exemption from paying sales taxes. Another possible tax break is an exemption from paying property taxes. Dover, however, is not seeking that exemption. The project would pay property taxes.

Whether it will pay the sales taxes ultimately is up to the Lawrence City Commission. But first, the city’s Public Incentives Review Committee will make a recommendation on the sales tax issue. City Hall’s economic development staff is recommending approval of the sales tax exemption, noting that the city has given such a break to similar projects.

Indeed, back in 2016, the city approved a sales tax exemption for the retirement facility Pioneer Ridge, and in 2013 for Neuvant House II, another assisted living and memory care facility. So, as far as tax breaks in this town go, this one may be fairly straightforward.

While the sales tax break is estimated to total $230,000, not all of that would be lost revenue for the city. The state of Kansas would be giving up the most in sales taxes at about $161,000, while the city would forgo about $53,000 and the county would forgo a little more than $16,000.

The city’s Public Incentives Review Committee will meet at 2 p.m. on Wednesday via Zoom to consider the request. From there, the request will go to the City Commission for approval.

As for a reminder about the project, it is another sign that Lawrence isn’t all about serving the young anymore. There have been several retirement projects in Lawrence over the last decade. There may be more to come. A representative with Dover Development told me in October that “the senior growth rates in Lawrence and Douglas County are very high, and we expect that to continue for quite some time.”

Lawrence isn’t unique in seeing an increase in its senior population. The 65 and older population grew by nearly 35% in the last decade, according to the Census Bureau. But some communities will get more of a boost from senior population growth than others. The communities that have aging facilities that can attract seniors with financial means probably will benefit more than those communities that lack such facilities. Those communities may still see senior population growth, but it may be more dominated by seniors with less means who may need more public assistance.

The latest materials provided to the city give a few more details about the type of retirement community the company envisions for Lawrence, although the materials didn’t shed any light on how much it may cost to live there. The project will include a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, according to the plans. The plans call for about a 70,000-square-foot, single-story building to be constructed on the vacant 7-acre lot. The building — it would be constructed just east of Theatre Lawrence and just west of the Meadowlark Estates retirement complex — is being designed to have a pair of open-air, interior courtyards with walking paths, the plans show.

Cedarhurst — which operates about 5,400 senior care living units across the country — expects to spend about $21 million building and equipping the facility. The company has been making a push into this region, with 84 units under development in Topeka and 74 under development in Salina. It already operates about 300 units in Kansas City.

The Lawrence project expects to have about 30 full-time positions with an average wage of nearly $43,000, and also is expected to employ about 15 part-time positions, according to materials filed with the city.

If the project wins its necessary approvals, construction would begin in the spring with an opening sometime in 2023.