Brad Harper, Montgomery Advertiser

Published 7:45 a.m. CT May 30, 2019

A $12.5 million project is underway to build a senior living center on the former campus of Saint James School in Montgomery.

Crews are demolishing an old gym at 2005 N. Country Club Drive to make way for the new development. The campus off Carter Hill Road in midtown was used by the school starting in the 1970s before Saint James moved to its current location on Vaughn Road.

“There’s an aging population of seniors. We saw a need for affordable housing there,” said Tom Champion, an executive with co-developer Gulf Coast Housing Partnership.

Called Country Club Estates, the project will feature 62 units of “affordable independent living” for people 55 and older, spread over a 67,000-square-foot, two-story building. Plans call for one- and two-bedroom units, with 16 units set aside for veterans. Each will include full kitchens, washers and dryers.

An assisted living center is under construction at 2005 N. Country Club Drive in Montgomery. (Photo: Brad Harper)

Champion said the development will have a community room, activity rooms, a fitness center, a computer center, a beauty salon, an outdoor pavilion, a gazebo and controlled building access with security monitoring.

They expect to finish the project next April.

The other co-developer of the facility is Volunteers of America Southeast, a Mobile-based nonprofit that operates a satellite office next door to the planned senior facility. New Orleans-based GCHP, also a nonprofit, started as an affordable housing alliance working to rebuild after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Champion said the two groups have some of the same community development goals.

The developers discussed several potential sites for the project before settling on the former school campus, which is also now home to a rehab center.

“Because of its central location and surrounding amenities, it made sense to do it right there,” Champion said.

Financing for the project is being provided by BBVA Compass, Stratford Capital Group, Neighborworks Capital, Federal Home Loan Bank Atlanta and the Alabama Housing Finance Authority. The architect was Alan Carr of Christian & Associates Architects, and White-Spunner Construction is handling the work.

You can see more about the two nonprofits behind the facility at voase.org and gchp.net.