Veterans care is key part of senior housing project approved in West Deptford

WEST DEPTFORD TWP. — Apartments set aside for area veterans is now an element of a revised senior housing project here, and its final approval review went smoothly before the township Planning Board Tuesday night.

The Gordon H. Mansfield Veterans and Seniors Village At West Deptford would be an 84,448-square-foot building at 420 Grove Avenue. The building would have 84 units, with 68 units restricted to tenants 55 years and older and 16 non-restricted units marked for veterans.

Winn Development Co., based in Boston, enlisted the nonprofit veterans aid organization Soldier On as part of the final version of the project. Winn Development is doing business for this project as West Deptford Apartments LLC.

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Soldier On operates a variety of veterans housing facilities in Massachusetts and, as of December 2021, a 70-unit complex in Tinton Falls.

The nonprofit, operating since in 1994, gets veterans places to live or helps them to stay in their homes with financial assistance. Its other major component is getting them various services, from health care to transportation.

Bruce Buckley, Soldier On’s chief executive officer, said the organization has been active in nine New Jersey counties for about 11 years. “We’re very plugged into homelessness and veterans homelessness in New Jersey,” he said.

Buckley said it is possible the veteran population at the proposed apartment complex may be larger than 16 units, depending on interest.

Some proposed features of the complex include a “dog run” for service animals, which many veterans have, and a columbarium for veterans cremains. The columbarium also is a feature of other Soldier On sites, Buckley said.

Buckley expects the dog run to be open to residents of a next-door apartment complex, The Cove at Riverwinds.

At the board hearing, Winn Development Senior Vice President David Ginsberg said this is the second combination project his company has done in New Jersey with Soldier On. The first was in Tinton Falls, he said.

Ginsberg said some of the project revisions made recently related to the availability of new funding sources. Construction should start by the end of 2024, he said.

According to the project application, there would be 66 one-bedroom apartments and 18 two-bedroom units in the four-story building. The building site is about 5.4 acres, undeveloped, and largely wooded.

Project engineer Mark Cifelli said the building and improvements will be done in a single phase.

This story was updated Wednesday.

Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey 36 years ago, keeping an eye now on government in South Jersey. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times.

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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: West Deptford OKs apartments for seniors and veterans, 2nd in N.J.