HADLEY — A building with 45 apartments for people 55-and-over, to be constructed at the Hadley Village Barn Shops site on Route 9 near the Coolidge Bridge, will move forward if revisions to the senior housing overlay district are approved by voters at annual Town Meeting next spring.

At a presentation to the Select Board on Nov. 20, plans were formally unveiled for a three-story, L-shaped building, with a peaked roof and a cupola, to be built at the 41 Russell St. site owned by the Pioneer Valley Hotel Group.

The property currently includes a Hampton Inn hotel, a Manny’s TV and Appliance store and assorted other businesses in buildings scattered about the property, as well as the closed Hadley Farms Meetinghouse banquet facility.

For Kishore Parmar, vice president of the family-owned and operated hotel management company who first pitched the idea in spring 2023, the hope is to target residents looking to downsize. “That’s who we’re really looking for,” Parmar said.

But to be able to pursue the project, attorney Tom Reidy of Bacon Wilson, PC of Amherst said the development team will begin working with the Planning Board on language of a bylaw amendment in December.

The presentation to the Select Board comes just days after voters at a special Town Meeting approved a new senior housing overlay district between Route 9, Route 116, Rocky Hill Road and North Maple Street. That is expected to lead to the town’s second 55-and-over project on the so-called Babb Farm.

East Street Commons is the only 55-and-over development that has been built in the existing senior housing overlay district, which extends along much of the Route 9 corridor.

While up to 50 senior housing apartments or homes can exist on a site, the current bylaw has restrictions of one dwelling unit per 7,260 square feet of property and no more than four dwelling units within a building. This would mean Parmar would have to build 15 buildings to yield the same umber of apartments.

“It’s inefficient from a space standpoint, it’s inefficient from a building standpoint, and frankly you’re probably not going to build something like that,” Reidy said.

Chris Chamberland of The Berkshire Design Group, who put together sketches for the building and a site layout, said this wouldn’t be a radical departure from what could go up on the site, including a potential for a second hotel of the same size as the 55-and-over building. Chamberland said the idea is to makes a project like this competitive with other uses that could happen.

Parmar explained that much of the shopping now done on Route 9 is closer to the shopping malls. “Retail has been a lot more difficult, in general, but especially in this location, in this part of Route 9,” Parmar said.

People will appreciate living close to Interstate 91. “This location is great, it’s on Route 9, it has good access points,” Parmar said.

“This provides a one stop, we’ll take care of snow plowing, maintenance, management, which I think can be attractive, especially given that location,” Reidy said.

Select Board member Jane Nevinsmith asked Parmar why he wouldn’t just build a hotel with long-term stays, rather than seeking a zoning change.

Parmar said the family’s newest hotel, TownePlace Suites by Marriott at 237 Russell St., will offer extended stays. But he said the hospitality business in the region isn’t growing, while the lack of housing in town, the region and state is. “We’re looking at this at a long-term solution to some of the problems we’re facing,” Parmar said.

Other Select Board members appeared supportive of the concept.

Board Chairwoman Molly Keegan said a development to provide more opportunities for people to live in town aligns with Hadley’s housing production plan, as well as being an age and dementia friendly community.

“From my day job, clients I work with, there are a number of people for whom homeownership loses its luster, and maybe it’s transition time,” Keegan said.

More housing options are needed in town, said board member Randy Izer, adding that the building would draw its design cues from the neighboring Hampton Inn. “I just think this makes a whole lot of sense, it looks like a motel, it’s next door to a motel,” Izer said.

While the project would have to be connected to town water and sewer, Department of Public Works Director Scott McCarthy said he anticipates that would bring in more revenue to support those enterprise funds, with the only concern being whether there is sufficient water capacity.