Vacant Hinsdale Senior Housing Complex May Get New Tenants

The Washington Square senior housing complex in Hinsdale, vacant for the past two years, may have new tenants before the end of the year.

Washington Square Retirement Community President Carol Wroble and Board Member Joyce Skoog addressed the Hinsdale Village Board Tuesday night to encourage trustees to support the sale of the property at 10 N. Washington St. to Eden Supportive Living. For the sale to go through, the village will need to approve a special use permit for Eden to use the facility to serve the needs of people with disabilities.

Eden Supportive Living President Mitch Hamblet told the board that his company serves people ages 22-64 who have a physical disability. He said most live fairly independently, but may typically require one to three hours of assistance per day with tasks like dressing, housekeeping, or food preparation. Eden does not serve people with mental illnesses.

“Part of our goal at Eden is to return people to live on their own,” Hamblet noted.

Wroble expressed the hope that the village could act quickly on the issue.

“We have a short timeline,” she said. “We are not in a financial position for this to carry on for a long time.”

She said Washington Square was in arrears on a number of bills.

“It’s our intent in our contract to close and pay off all those bills,” Hamblet said.

While some interior renovation work will need to be done, Hamblet indicated there would be little, if any, structural changes needed.

“The best part of this is the building’s layout works perfect for us,” he said. “My guess is if everything goes smoothly … before winter we’ll be trying to occupy the place.”

Parking questions

Eden Supportive Living began operations in 2004 and has facilities in North Aurora and Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood.

Trustees seemed most concerned about potential parking problems at Washington Square, which has just 35 parking spaces for its 68 units.

Hamblet said it is very rare for Eden’s clients to have their own vehicle. He noted that the 135 units in Wrigleyville have “zero parking.”

“A lot of our caregivers do use public transportation,” he added. “Our parking requirements are very small. … What is important to us is the public transportation. One of the reasons we love this site so much is we have the train right there.”

Hamblet said the facility will be staffed 24 hours a day, with a maximum of about 15 people working at any one time.

Washington Square history

Skoog said Washington Square was founded in 1974.

“Its original mission was really to provide those who lived and worked in the community an affordable retirement option,” she said.

For its first 20 years, Skoog said Washington Square had 100 percent occupancy and a waiting list to get in. But she said significant changes in the housing options for senior citizens over the past 15 years left Washington Square at a disadvantage in attracting new residents. Specifically, she said seniors today are looking for complexes that provide a full continuum of care, such as Fairview Village in Downers Grove or Lexington Square in Elmhurst and Lombard.

“Washington Square never had the capacity to provide the full continuum of care,” Skoog said. “We didn’t keep up. We’re landlocked. Our units are small. We couldn’t provide the continuum of care at all.”

She noted that seniors are living longer and have options like home health care that allow them to stay in their own homes longer. She said the average age of a new tenant at Washington Square in 1974 was 70. By 2008, it was 82.

“The population got older and older with more and more needs,” Skoog said. “We have tried everything at Washington Square in the last 10 years. We have continued to make improvements.”

At the end of 2008, Skoog said only 37 units at Washington Square were occupied.

“We had to close our doors,” she said. “We found suitable housing for the 37 residents who were left at the end.”

Next steps

The Hinsdale Plan Commission must first approve the new use for the facility, which could happen at its April 27 meeting. If the plan meets with that body’s approval, the Village Board could vote on the matter at its May 3 meeting.

“We’re not trying to short-circuit the process,” Village President Tom Cauley said.

Trustee Bob Schultz pointed out that the first meeting in May will see a new board seated following the April elections, and he asked which board would be voting on Washington Square.

“I would assume it would be this board,” Cauley said. “I had forgotten that was the transition evening.”

Hinsdale resident Beth Barrow, who lives on Washington Street, spoke in favor of the Eden project.

“As a preservationist, I applaud the apparent reuse of an existing building, rather than a teardown,” she said.