The Wartburg Home of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, known today simply as Wartburg, has been a staple of the Mount Vernon community since 1866, when it first opened its doors as the Wartburg Orphans’ Farm School. Now, over a century and half later, with the assistance of Cuddy & Feder’s land use team, led by William S. Null, Lucia Chiocchio, and Allison Fausner, Wartburg is poised to establish two new state-of-the-art senior care facilities that will enable it to meet the region’s growing demand for senior facilities.

The 33.9-acre Wartburg Complex serves more than 700 residents and non-residents through a variety of programs via a staff of more than 525. Originally established to care for children without parents, Wartburg entered the field of care for the elderly in 1899. Wartburg has formed an integral part of the heritage of the City of Mount Vernon since its inception. Throughout the past century, Wartburg has operated a full continuum of long-term care for older adults to meet their varying needs.

Wartburg offers integrated, comprehensive senior care services from independent and assisted living, award-winning nursing home care, rehabilitation, home care and adult day-care services to ensure that the senior population may continue to live comfortably and age-in-place with dignity. Unlike most conventional retirement communities, Wartburg provides a wide range of services to both residents and people in their own homes. Wartburg’s commitment to caring for older loved ones extends well beyond the individual through their mission of healing and hope for everyone they serve—residents, their families, staff, and volunteers.

The recent land use approvals to construct an 8-story Independent Living Facility and a 5-story Assisted Living Facility advance Wartburg’s commitment to the elderly and promote continual improvements to meet the changing needs of its seniors and to maintain the highest standards in long term care for its residents. Indeed, the Independent Living Building will provide 210-units of housing and the Assisted Living Building 48-units.

The project began in 2016, when Cuddy & Feder recognized an opportunity to expand the Wartburg’s services by petitioning Mount Vernon’s City Council to rezone the Wartburg complex to the RMF-SC Senior Citizen Housing Floating Overlay Zone. The RMF-SC District design standards and provisions were adopted to create opportunities for senior housing and services within the City. Classification within the RMF-SC District allows Wartburg to utilize these design standards and provisions for future planning of improvements to address the needs of the senior community and their families.

Cuddy & Feder, supported by a team of architects and engineers, submitted the remapping petition and request for the new senior facilities in 2019. In 2021, the City Council, acting as Lead Agency under the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act, considered the cumulative environmental impacts of the Independent Living Building and Assisted Living Building and adopted a Negative Declaration finding there to be no significant adverse environmental impacts arising in connection with the rezoning or any proposed new development thereunder. The City Council simultaneously approved remapping the Wartburg Complex to the RMF-SC District.

With the new design standards applicable to the Wartburg Complex, Cuddy & Feder assisted Wartburg in continued review before the City’s Planning Board and Architectural Review Board. After several public hearings led by Cuddy & Feder before the respective Boards, Wartburg secured Site Plan Approvals and Certificates of Appropriateness for both the Independent Living Building and Assisted Living Building.

Cuddy & Feder is proud to be part of the Wartburg team in fulfilling its mission to provide the highest level of elderly and long-term care for the senior community.