The Hillside Inn, which started as a farmhouse barbeque on Plymouth Road before evolving into the premier area restaurant, became Ernesto's and then The Courthouse Grille where rites of passage and family celebrations took place for decades. The property was sold about two years ago and last month members of the Plymouth Township Board of Trustees approved plans for a new apartment complex at the site. The current structure, which is filled with family memories of special events which took place there, will be demolished to make way for the new 120-unit apartment building.
The apartment complex will be constructed with two tiers of parking beneath the residential units according to Mark Abanatha, representing developer Alexander Bogaerts & Associates.
He told members of the board that a historic marker will be placed at the site to commemorate the iconic importance of the site to area residents.
Abanatha said the complex would include both one- and two-bedroom apartments, with the smaller units of 736 to 840 square feet while the two-bedroom units would be about 1,100 square feet. Rental fees are currently estimated at about $2 per square foot, he said.
“This is a class A project from a standpoint of the amenities it will offer,” said Abanatha. He said the apartment units would be most attractive to empty nesters and millennials, but were not limited to those groups. Amenities, he said, will be onsite car and dog washes, two rooftop gathering spaces and physical fitness facilities.
Abanatha said the design style of the proposed building reduces the “footprint” of the building and also reduces the need to remove area trees and conserves green space at the site.
The plan was unanimously approved.
