Construction Begins on Senior Apartment Complex

A groundbreaking ceremony Thursday kicked off the construction of a 98,500-square-foot apartment complex for seniors at a cul-de-sac on Malibu Hills Road.

Only those who are 55 or older will be allowed to move into Horizons at Calabasas, which is being built on a 2.7-acre lot.

Fifty-seven of the units are three bedrooms, while the rest are two bedrooms, said developer Dan Zaharoni of Zaharoni Industries. There will also be a subterranean parking level, swimming pool, jacuzzi courtyard, and three cabanas.

An optional 24-hour concierge serve will also be available and offer services such as grocery pick-up, Zaharoni said. He added that a transportation service comprised of at least two vans would be available for tenants.

Zaharoni said Horizons is not quite an assisted living facility nor a standard apartment building.

"It's a hybrid approach," he said.

Horizons shares a wall with the Steeplechase neighborhood, but Zaharoni said he would install a larger sound wall between the two communities.

The Calabasas City Council approved the project in 2006, but the economic downturn two years later resulted in Zaharoni losing his construction financing.

Progress on the development was at a standstill until April, when Mutual of Omaha stepped in and offered to help with about $12-$16 million to build Horizons, Zaharoni said.

Councilman David Shapiro praised the project, saying that with an assisted living facility for seniors that opened last year in Old Town, elderly residents now have places they can live on both sides of Calabasas.

"It really looks like a first class project," he said.

Zaharoni said he is renting units for now due to a high level of demand from interested applicants, but there may an option to buy in the future.

Construction at Horizons at Calabasas is expected to be finished by September 2013, Zaharoni said.