Greenwood considers annexing 67 acres for apartments, senior living facility

A new apartment complex and assisted living facility could be coming to Greenwood’s far northeast side if the city council OK’s an annexation.

Kentucky-based Denton Floyd Real Estate Group plans to build a 17-building apartment complex that includes 408 market-rate apartments and a 131-unit assisted living facility on about 53 acres near the intersection of County Line Road and Combs Road, east of the Interstate 65 interchange. The land Denton Floyd plans to build on is currently in unincorporated Johnson County and will need to be annexed by the city, according to city documents.

The developer is requesting to annex an additional 13.9 acres into the city. There are no plans to develop the land at this time, so the land would be zoned agricultural, according to city documents.

The annexation will be 100% voluntary, as the developer has worked with each landowner involved in the annexation, said Jacob Vissing, an attorney representing the developer.

Denton Floyd has built similar facilities in the Louisville, Kentucky and Nashville, Tennessee areas. The apartment complex will feature a resort-style clubhouse with several amenities, including fire pits, cabanas, putt-putt golf and a heated pool which will be open year-round. The assisted living facility will have 115 assisted living units and 16 memory care units, said Clayton Pace, partner and president of development for Denton Floyd.

The annexation request and building proposal came before both the Greenwood Advisory Plan Commission and Greenwood City Council earlier this month. Four people, including both Marion County and Johnson County residents, raised concerns about the project and its impacts during a plan commission meeting this week.

Robin Heldman, an Indianapolis resident, expressed concerns about increased traffic near the County Line Road-Combs Road intersection. She said the developer had been responsive to her other questions, but she was concerned about adding more traffic to an intersection that is still a two-way stop.

Heldman also asked the commission who was responsible for County Line Road, and if improvements would be made to it.

Plan commission president Trent Pohlar said Marion County is responsible for the entirety of County Line Road, and that a traffic study is planned at the intersection. Because of the location, the developer will need to also get approval from Indianapolis officials before the road improvements can be made, said Dale Davis, Greenwood’s planning director.

Jeff Wiley, a Johnson County resident, said he was concerned about buffers between the development and his property. Wiley was also concerned it would bring down property values for adjacent properties if it became subsidized housing, he said.

Pace told the commission it would not be subsidized housing, but because the development is early in the process, many of the residents’ questions could not be answered yet.

Denton Floyd could not provide a rent range due to the fluidity of the market right now, he said.

Denton Floyd is also aware there are concerns about the traffic in the area and acknowledges something needs to be done, Pace said.

“We want to be a good neighbor. We don’t want to be an obstacle to that, so let’s go ahead and do the traffic studies and see what it comes up with to make sure it’s a good development for all of us,” he said.

The plan commission unanimously agreed to send a favorable recommendation for the project to the city council for review, with several commitments requested by city staff.

If the city council approves the annexation, construction would likely begin in April. The apartments will be built first, then the assisted living facility, Pace said.