A partnership between Morelock Builders and Associates Inc. and Triple S. Properties Inc. is behind a new senior living project in Ozark.
The $10 million development, dubbed The Villages at James River, is underway on 9 acres a mile east of the U.S. Highway 65 and State Highway CC interchange, and crews plan to finish this summer, said Dana Neeley-Smith, who handles marketing for Morelock Builders.
Designed by H Design Group LLC, the plan calls for 47 living units, each with all-brick exteriors, attached garages and covered porches. Neeley-Smith said The Villages at James River, 5600 N. Farmer Branch Road, will comprise 73,000 square feet across seven buildings and a clubhouse.
“This is our first 55 and over project,” she said.
Lease rates are undetermined, but she said two- and three-year agreements come with a social membership to Fremont Hills Country Club for one year. Pre-leasing has not yet begun.
“We’ve partnered with Fremont Hills,” Neeley-Smith said of the package that includes golf twice a year, as well as dining, pool and tennis activities. “If they want to continue it after that, they can or add the golf. There are plenty of options for them after the free one-year membership.”
Fremont Hills is about two miles to the west, on Highway CC.
Triple S Properties is led by Mike Seitz, a residential and commercial real estate developer since 1990, now with over 1,000 homes and 600 rental units in his portfolio. Morelock Builders is led by Wayne Morelock, who co-founded Morelock-Ross Builders Inc. in 1982 and now runs the surviving company after partner Kenny Ross left in 2018.
Neeley-Smith said the two companies are partnering on another Ozark project for the relocation of Primas Mexican Grill. The development site, 5557 N. 21st St., Stes. 1-5, is part of Seitz’s multimillion-dollar Deerbrook Marketplace concept at the northwest corner of highways 65 and CC.
In 2014, Ozark officials gave Seitz and his development plan a $4.5 million incentives package for the 33-acre tract. At the time, the projected four-year build-out identified a Kum & Go convenience store, McDonald’s restaurant and nine lots, earmarked for restaurants, retail, grocery and a hotel. The Kum & Go and McDonald’s have recently opened in new structures.