News

Developer seeks OK for 166-unit apartment complex in Naples

By Lightning Reports, Published: June 13, 2024

A developer's plan to build 166 apartments on Naples Road between Asheville Highway and AdventHealth hospital comes before the Henderson County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday.

Developer Luis Graef, of Coral Springs, Florida, is seeking a conditional use rezoning to allow the one-, two- and three-bedroom rental units in seven three- and four-story buildings on 10.4 acres a mile from the AdventHealth campus.

Just two neighboring landowners appeared at a neighborhood compatibility meeting for the project on May 2. Jared Deridder, of WGLA Engineering, and John Hernandez, for the developer, presented the plans and responded to questions.

Plans include a clubhouse and pool for residents, 5-foot sidewalks, garbage collection, parking lot landscaping and an existing buffer of trees along I-26. The site plan also includes space for a possible Apple Country Transit shelter. The site will have 53 percent pervious surface and 30 percent open space. In a traffic impact analysis it submitted to the NCDOT, the developer said the apartment complex would generate 1,140 trips a day.

"The NCDOT is reviewing the current alignment and traffic and is discussing what improvements are needed and which of those might be required of this development," a planning staff report said. The project would be served by Hendersonville city water and Buncombe-based MSD sewer.

The neighboring property owners posed questions about traffic, including ambulance traffic that uses Naples Road to reach AdventHealth, the construction timeline and whether the units are expected to be luxury apartments.

"The applicant said they are planning for a more affordable option to support workforce housing needs and those with young children," the staff report said. The dwellings won't be Section 8 HUD housing or low-income housing financed by tax credits, the applicant added.
Deridder showed a sketch of a typical multi-unit building constructed from wood with a shingled roof and said the buildings "will look very similar to Brittany Place" on U.S. 64 East in Hendersonville. The land is in a land-use category that "encourages mixed-use development, especially multistory units," county planners said.

The Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing on the request during its regular meeting at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 19.