Developer Plans To Turn Former Nursing Home Into Apartments


The former Glen Haven Home building at 302 Sixth St. in Glenwood was built in the early 1960s. The building is being renovated with plans to convert the structure into apartments.

Plans are in the works to turn the former Glen Haven skilled nursing care facility at 302 Sixth St. into a 27-unit apartment complex.

Property owner Ryan Sell recently provided the Glenwood City Council with an update on the project, noting that the nearly 60-year-old structure is being “gutted” as one of the initial phases of the $5.4 million project. 

Sell said he has received initial approval for $1.9 million in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding for the project. The federal CDBG program provides grants on a formula basis to assist communities in providing affordable housing. Sell said he also seeking $1.4 million of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funding. TIF is a public financing method utilized to subsidize development, infrastructure and community improvement projects. A stipulation for the public funding is that the majority of the apartments must be classified as low-moderate income housing units. 

Most of the apartments will be three-bedroom, two-bathroom units, Sell said. There will also be a few one-bedroom apartments.  

“This is up by the school (Northeast Elementary) so we’ve included a lot three-bedroom apartments that will also have two bathrooms,” Sell said. “That doesn’t exist in Glenwood right now. So, a single mom or a single dad with their two kids is the route we’ve looked at.” 

Most of the residents will have direct access to their apartments without walking through a common hallway or lobby. 

“Most of them – 80 percent of them – will have entrances from the outside,” Sell said. “There won’t be any common areas – everyone will have their own entrance. 

“We tried to get most of them like that just because in the common areas there’s a lot of noise. This cuts down on the noise.” 
Infrastructure improvements and modifications have not been finalized but Sell said a new water main will need to be installed.

He added that water and sewer usage is expected to be significantly lower than when the building was being utilized as a nursing home because of the reduction in the number of units and new energy-efficient plumbing fixtures that will be utilized in each apartment.

Most of the parking will be in the lower, back side of the property, Sell said, and he expects the neighborhood to experience minimal impact from motor vehicle traffic entering and leaving the complex. 

“We’ll have less traffic than when it was Glen Haven,” he said. 

The complex design includes walking paths for children attending both Northeast Elementary and the Glenwood Middle School. One other notable aspect of the project is that the house that sits on the southeast corner of the property and once housed a Head Start preschool will be renovated into a living unit for the apartment complex manager. 

Sell said the engineering and architectural aspects of the project won’t be completed until funding sources have been finalized.

The Opinion-Tribune

116 S Walnut St Glenwood, IA 51534-1665
P.O. Box 377, Red Oak, IA 51566
Phone: 712-527-3191
Phone: 712-623-2566
Fax: 712-527-3193

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