South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Public hearing set Monday on senior apartments proposed at part of Affton cemetery

Public hearing set Monday on senior apartments proposed at part of Affton cemetery

Affton could get a new 74-unit senior apartment complex in New Mt. Sinai Cemetery under plans set to be considered by the county Planning Commission at a public hearing Monday.

Herman & Kittle Properties of Indianapolis, Ind., is proposing to construct the Cottages on Gravois senior apartments on 10 acres in the Bayless School District at 8363 Gravois Road, currently the site of a single-family residence, and part of 8430 Gravois, the cemetery.

The planning panel will conduct a public hearing at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22, in the County Council Chambers at the Administration Building at 41 S. Central Ave., Clayton.

The project is in the district of 6th District Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-Oakville.

The plan calls for seven buildings with 28 one-bedroom apartments each, and four buildings with 16 two-bedroom apartments each. A one-story/two-story split building would have community rooms, 26 one-bedroom apartments and four two-bedroom apartments, with 16 on the upper level and 10 on the lower level.

In all, the plan calls for 54 one-bedroom apartments and 20 two-bedroom apartments. The complex would have 18 detached garages and 24 storage units in two building types: two garage-type buildings with six garage bays and six storage bays, with one handicapped-accessible bay, and one garage-type building with six garage bays and 12 storage units. The complex would have 111 parking spaces.

The northeastern corner of New Mt. Sinai Cemetery would be sold for the apartments if the plan goes through. The property is under contract to the developer, according to the website of St. George Catholic Church, which currently uses the land in question as the St. George Fields through a decades-long agreement. The property is directly next to the church.

“It is cost-prohibitive for the parish to try to purchase the land,” the church wrote in a summary of a November meeting.

The company seeks a zoning change from NU Non-Urban to R-6A multi-family residential, along with a PEU, or Planned Environment Unit, in R-6A.

The property in question is not used for graves at the cemetery, which has been in existence for 160 years and is the oldest Jewish cemetery in St. Louis. The total cemetery property is 52 acres.

The nonprofit organization that runs the cemetery, the New Mt. Sinai Cemetery Association, also explored the sale of the land 20 years ago, according to a note in a St. George bulletin from January 2017.

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