Cleveland real-estate investor Peter Jobson wants to turn Smokers Club Beer & Wine into a retirement home, and the city of Hillsdale is enabling his project to move forward by lowering the tax rate on the property and changing the property’s zoning variance.
Jobson, president and CEO of Excel Realty Investors, LLC, applied for a Michigan State Housing Development Authority grant on Oct. 1 to redevelop 8 Manning Street into a low-income senior retirement home, which will be called “Center City.”
If Jobson obtains the grant, current property owner Casey Suwaiz will sell it to him, and Joe Tomina, who operates the Smokers Club Beer & Wine on the property, will need to find a new location for his business by next October.
The Hillsdale City Council approved a payment in lieu of taxes for the Center City project at its Sept. 28 meeting. The PILOT ordinance lowers the tax rate on the property to make Jobson’s construction project more feasible, and when the apartment complex is completed it will keep the rent at an affordable price.
“The city has to commit to lowering the taxes to make the project feasible, so the tax abatement is lowered to 10 percent,” Hillsdale City Manager David Mackie told the Collegian. “Their rents are restricted to be deemed affordable. Hillsdale High Rise Apartments, Hilltop Apartments, and Greenwood Village Apartments are rent-restricted as well.”
In order for Jobson to build Center City on the property, it must be re-zoned to “residential use only.” Because the property is currently in a different district, the Hillsdale Zoning Board of Appeals approved a zoning variance at its Sept. 30 meeting to allow Jobson to build Center City on the property.
“The issue is that the downtown units are not allowed to have residential units on the ground floor, so the variance will allow for that,” Hillsdale Zoning Administrator Alan Beeker said.
Beeker said the variance makes sense because the property is on the edge of a residential zone, and it fits with the city’s master plan.
Jobson first approached City of Hillsdale Director of Economic Development Mary Wolfram in April 2014 about redeveloping a vacant property in Hillsdale into a retirement home.
“He mainly asked, how would Hillsdale look at this? Would they support it?” Wolfram said. “The PILOT was one of the things the city had to approve in order for the project to move forward.”
Jobson considered the Midtown Building, the Keefer House, and the old Carleton Road screen door factory — all of which are vacant — but failed to obtain purchase agreements from the owners.
“They were large enough to possibly house the project but none of them were interested,” Beeker said.
Suwaiz, who has been trying to sell his building for a while, arranged to sell the property after Tomina introduced him to Jobson.
Jobson plans to tear down the current building at 8 Manning Street and build a two-building retirement home, because he believes senior homes are a growing need for urban communities, and senior homes in the downtown area will foster urban growth and development.
“Senior housing is something every community needs now,” Jobson said. “They don’t want the upkeep. This offers a first-class building for seniors to live in..”
Jobson believes senior communities downtown will encourage seniors to stay in Hillsdale and invest in the city.
Some Hillsdale residents don’t want Smokers Club to move, and fear what will happen to the business if it is no longer downtown. Hillsdale resident Natasha Crall fears losing one of her her primary sources for groceries if Jobson’s Center City project moves forward.
“Smokers Club saves us trips to Kroger and Market House,” Crall said. “As a family, we try to be very green. Losing one more place offering convenience items is a detriment to the community. We want to keep it here in the city where it belongs.”
Hillsdale resident Sandy Marshall, who lives next to the property, fears the project will diminish accessibility to her home, especially since her husband is bedridden and sometimes requires an ambulance to take him to the hospital.
“My husband is completely bedridden so when we have to go to the hospital we have to have a fire truck come and it takes up the whole street,” Marshall told the zoning board at its Sept. 30 meeting.
As the Center City project continues to move forward, Jobson said he is willing to work with the community and address residents’ concerns about the project.
“We can make accommodations to help her and be good neighbors,” Jobson told the zoning board. “We’d be more than happy to do that.”
The Center City project will cost around $5 million, Jobson said, and is slated to begin August 2016 with a projected end date of August 2017.
“Hillsdale has a unique and historic downtown, and there’s going to be a need for senior communities,” Jobson said. “It’s a great addition to downtown, and then seniors don’t move to Florida.”
