An Ohio apartment developer was approved Monday for a rezone enabling a 156-unit single-story apartment development in Franklin.
Redwood Living, Inc. plans to build 156 single-story apartment homes on a 31.5-acre parcel located at the northeast corner of Hurricane Road and Upper Shelbyville Road in Franklin. The apartment community would have two-bed, two-bath, two-car garage units of varying sizes, according to plans submitted to the city.
This development would be the Independence, Ohio-based company’s third project in Johnson County. Redwood began leasing at their 100-unit Greenwood community at Smoky Row Road and State Road 135 in 2021 and was approved to build 158 units on a parcel near Whiteland Road and U.S. 31 in December. The company also has 16 properties that are either in development or are built out in Indiana.
Rent would be set at the market rate and it would be on a spectrum based on the square footage of the individual unit, with this complex likely to start around $1,600 and go up to around $2,100. Units will be roughly 1,300 to 1,700 square feet, Russell Brown, an attorney representing Redwood, said at the February plan commission meeting.
At Redwood Greenwood, there are seven floorplans with rents ranging from $1,877 for a 1,294-square-foot unit to $2,504 for a 1,709-square-foot unit, according to the company’s website. The largest floor plans come with a sunroom. Rents in Whiteland are expected to be $1,600 and $2,000 a month, an attorney for the developer said at the time.
Across the country and across Indiana, these units are typically targeted at young professionals and empty-nesters, with the average age of tenants being 51. Most people who move into Redwood complexes are existing area residents who are looking for the type of single-story rental housing, Brown said.
Typically tenants live within a three-mile radius and are downsizing from a house or upsizing from a smaller apartment. Tenants don’t typically have kids and have two or fewer cars, he said.
The apartments would add a new type of housing that Franklin doesn’t have right now, Brown said. A similar single-story rental community is being built by local developer MultiPro, LLC on King Street next to Fire Station No. 22. This will feature 167 two-bed, two-bath, two-car garage luxury rental homes priced at an estimated $1,800 to $2,100.
At the February plan commission meeting one person came to the meeting to express concerns, but one spoke up during the Monday public hearing the Franklin Common Council held for the request to rezone the land from general industrial to multi-family.
In February, Devon Clawson, whose family owns industrial property to the north of the site, came to ask for a fence to make sure the residents couldn’t walk onto the property.
Franklin Senior Planner Joanna Tennell said there would be a buffer installed, as it is required by city code. The buffer is required to be one of the following: an opaque fence, an undulating mound with shrubs or a row of evergreens. Current plans show a row of trees along the property line with the industrial site.
The developer says multi-family housing is a good transition use between the industrial site to nearby single-family homes and Webb and Needham elementary schools.
“We are that transitional use that land planners look for,” said Gregory Thurmon, Redwood Living’s vice president of acquisitions. “We are usually behind Lowe’s and big box stores, behind industrial areas that buffer school systems.”
Plans include a pond with a water feature and a grassy area to mitigate the floodplain that is on the part of the property near the intersection of Upper Shelbyville Road and Eastview Drive. A bike path and tree-lined sidewalks are planned throughout the development, plans show.
Entrances to the complex are planned from Upper Shelbyville Road and Hurricane Road, with perfect driveway alignment with other nearby businesses, Thurmon said.
The company hopes to break ground in six months, have the first building ready for occupancy within a year and be finished in about 2.5 years, he said.
