By Sara Beth Williams–
After a year of construction, a set of three-story apartment buildings behind Sunrise Mall is progressing along, with exterior windows and doors added beyond scaffolding wrapped around the buildings. Construction fencing still surrounds the site. An anticipated date of completion for the project is still not known.
Groundbreaking for the Sunrise Vista Apartments, a set of three-story apartment buildings first approved in 2022, took three years to occur following some controversy over trees and other delays.
Plans for the complex include the construction of three-story apartment buildings with up to 30 units, along with amenities including a pool, courtyard and community center room, and parking lots for future residents. As well, landscaping and fencing around the complex is also planned.
In 2024, the removal of several trees throughout the lot frustrated nearby local residents and businesses owners, who criticized the toppling of an “ancient” Heritage Valley oak tree, which stood at the site of the proposed apartment complex for decades.
Developer Leonid Kotyakov told The Sentinel in 2024 that several dead trees were removed because they were a fire hazard. Kotyakov did not return a request for comment regarding construction progress sent this week.
Digital renderings of the three-story buildings show apartments with balconies on the second and third floors and several single-car garages on the first floor. The construction of a masonry sound wall on one side of the complex is also listed in the plans as well as the addition of several new trees, and at least one decorative fountain.
Flour plans listed with the city for “Building A” show two two-bedroom-two-bathroom apartments with patios, a caretaker unit, and six single-car garages on the ground floor, and four two-bedroom-two-bathroom units with a balcony on the second and third floors. Floor plans for Buildings B and C show plans for one two-bedroom-two-bath unit, one one-bedroom, one and a half-bath unit and eight garages on the first floor. The second and third floor will consist of two two-bedroom, two-bathroom units, and two one-bedroom, one and a half bath units on each floor.
The construction of the Sunrise Vista Apartments comes amid newly developing plans for Sunrise Mall just around the corner, with the city having recently announced an economic development and participation agreement with The Mettle Shop in order to develop a sports complex and entertainment center at the site of the former Macy’s Men’s building at Sunrise Mall.
