The proposed site for the Monarch senior-living facility on the property of the now-demolished Mama Ventura's restaurant and bar on Route 73. The restaurant's parking lot remains. The Virtua healthcare complex is to the right, across Route 73.Â
Applications for two proposed senior-living facilities less than a mile from each other on the northbound side of Route 73 in Voorhees have been made to Township boards.
Monarch Development Company JV LLC of New Hampshire proposes a three-story, 216-unit complex on the 10.1-acre site of the former Mama Ventura's restaurant on Route 73 across from the Virtua healthcare center and next to the shopping center housing BJ's Wholesale Club and Lowe's.
The Planning Board was scheduled to consider the developer's application on Wednesday evening, but it has been postponed to a future meeting.
Less than a mile south, developer Commerce Pursuit Capital LP of Fort Washington, Pennsylvania plans a three-story, 163-bed facility on 3.7 acres at the corner of Signal Hill Drive. Under the proposal, a small lot would be subdivided from property owned by the Voorhees Board of Education and sold to the developer. Signal Hill Elementary School is next to the site.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment was scheduled to consider the application on Thursday evening, but it also has been postponed.
Signal Hill Drive development
The Route 73 and Signal Hill Drive intersection in Voorhees. The proposed senior-living facility would be built on the lot on the left of Signal Hill Drive. The lot on the right has been approved for retail stores. The Planning Board denied the retail plans, but Superior Court Judge Deborah Silverman Katz in Camden County last year ruled in favor of an approval.
Development of the intersection at Route 73 northbound and Signal Hill Drive, which leads to Signal Hill school and the Sturbridge Lakes community, has been controversial.Â
The Planning Board in November 2020 denied the application of Dean Development Associates LLC to build a 14,000-square-foot retail center on 2.58 acres of land across Signal Hill Drive from where Commerce Pursuit Capital wants to build the senior facility. Several residents who live near the site testified against the plan before the board, with some saying it would create dangerous traffic conditions.
A Superior Court of New Jersey judge in Camden County last August reversed the board's denial, granting Dean Development preliminary and final major site-plan approval with bulk zoning variances and design waivers. The approval includes a driveway on Signal Hill Drive that was protested by residents.
The proposed senior facility at 124-126 Route 73 also would have a driveway on Signal Hill Drive, as well as Route 73, according to plans.Â
Part of the property that would be used for a senior-living facility at Signal Hill Drive and Route 73. From this view on Signal Hill Drive, Route 73 is to the left and Signal Hill Elementary School is to the right.
Besides the Board of Education, other owners of the lots making up the site are Viken Kirian, of Scotch Plains, Union County, and Medford Village East Associates of Centennial Boulevard in Voorhees, according to the application.
Commerce Pursuit Capital applied for preliminary and final major site-plan approval, the subdivision of the school property and bulk variances. The front setback from Route 73 is a required minimum of 50 feet, and the developer wants a variance for a 31.4-foot setback. Fifty feet also is required for the side setback, but the developer wants a 17.4-foot setback.
The Signal Hill Drive lot is largely wooded and hundreds of trees would be removed, according to the plans.Â
A total of 482 trees — some are 24 to 35 inches in diameter — would be cut down to make way for the project, according to the plans. However, under the Township's tree-removal law, only 216 of the trees would need to be replaced, the plan notes.
Vegetation-replacement plans include 45 deciduous trees, 10 ornamental trees and 10 evergreens, the plans state. The developer would pay the Township $30,200 in lieu of reforesting the balance of the trees to be cut, according to the plans.
Senior facility on old Ventura's site
The developer's rendering of the front of the proposed Monarch senior facility on Route 73, north of the Cedar Hill Shopping Center (BJ's and Lowe's).
The old Ventura's site at 178 Route 73 now is owned by 178 Rt 73 MVI Assoc. II LLC of Greenwich, Connecticut, according to the application. The restaurant, which was demolished about seven years ago, used to sit toward the front of the property and the back was mostly wooded. The restaurant's parking lot is all that remains.
Plans show the 218,500-square-foot complex would have 52 assisted-living units, 134 congregate-care units and 30 memory-care units. The developer is seeking preliminary and final site-plan approval for the property, which is 310 feet south of William Feather Drive.
Planning Board engineer Rakesh R. Darji, of Environmental Resolutions Inc. of Mount Laurel, tried to clarify the developer's tree removal and replacement proposal in his response to the plans.
"The improvements proposed will require the removal of a substantial number of existing trees," Darji stated in his April 20 letter.
Based on the square footage of the project, Darji's letter said a total of 951 trees would be removed, with 203 replaced. The Township would need compensation for the removal of the balance, or 748 trees, according to the letter.
The proposed site on the northbound side of Route 73 on the former Mama Ventura's restaurant property is outlined in yellow.
The proposed site on the northbound side of Route 73 at Signal Hill Drive is outlined in yellow. The senior facility would be next to Signal Hill Elementary School.Â
