Construction of upscale senior housing in Fort Lauderdale to start in summer

Houston-based Belmont Village Senior Living expects to break ground in summer for construction of an upscale senior housing development in Fort Lauderdale.

The company’s first Florida project will be a 12-story, 204-unit senior housing complex just north of the Galleria Mall in Fort Lauderdale at 1031 Seminole Drive.

Patricia Will, founder and CEO of Belmont, told the Sun-Sentinel that the company also expects to build senior housing elsewhere in South Florida and is negotiating to buy sites in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. She said most of the sites are east of Interstate 95, near condos where many aging seniors reside.

Belmont expects a 2019 opening for the 212,000-square-foot complex in Fort Lauderdale with units for independent living, assisted living and memory care. The company hasn’t yet announced the monthly rents it will charge.

Amenities at the Fort Lauderdale property will include meal preparation services plus a bistro, an exercise facility, a heated saltwater swimming pool, salon and movie room. The senior housing development would be Belmont’s 30th nationwide.

Developer Jean Francois Roy has proposed a similar senior housing development on a one-acre parcel in downtown Fort Lauderdale along New River Drive. But some owners of nearby condos have criticized Roy’s proposed development as too big. His 401-unit development, called Riverwalk Residences of Las Olas, would be 42 stories tall. [Sun-Sentinel] – Mike Seemuth