Wesley Housing builds Wesley Housing builds 65-unit home for elderly By CAMILLE H. GAMBLE The Daily News Wesley Housing Corp. has started construction on a 51,000-square-foot home for the elderly on Battle Creek Drive near Bartlett. The two-story facility will have 65 one-bedroom units. Construction is valued at $3 million, according to a building permit issued by the Shelby County Construction Code Enforcement Office. Cordova Construction Co. Inc. is the general contractor. Wesley Stage Park will be an independent living facility. It will be located off Covington Pike next to the Golden Coral restaurant. Betty Stoker of Wesley Housing Corp. said the decision to build on Battle Creek was influenced by the number of businesses within walking distance from the facility. "We always try to put these independent residences close to everything," Stoker said. Wesley Stage Park is expected to be complete by the end of the year. Applications will be taken for residency toward the end of the year. Wesley Housing Corp. is the non-profit sponsor of the new apartment property. "Government regulations require that we set up a sole-purpose, non-profit company to own the property," said Larry Kaler, vice president of housing for Wesley Housing Corp. Wesley Stage Park Inc. purchased the vacant land on Battle Creek on Dec. 31 for $100,000, according to a warranty deed filed in the Shelby County Register's Office. Wesley Housing Corp., an extension of the United Methodist Church, plans to own or manage at least six other apartment properties in the Memphis conference of the United Methodist Church, which includes West Tennessee and western Kentucky. Wesley has planned assisted living centers for Union City and Milan, and Wesley will manage a facility being built by two churches in Dyersburg. "We are working with Methodist Hospitals to establish assisted living facilities on the hospital campuses in Brownsville and McKenzie," Kaler said. Construction is planned to start on these facilities before the end of the year, Kaler said. Wesley Senior Ministries, the parent organization of the management group Wesley Housing Corp., started in 1969 after a Methodist pastor in Memphis and business executives proposed the idea of housing for the elderly. In 1973, the first living facility was built on Highland Avenue called Wesley Highland Towers. "Particularly at that time, the goal was to provide for the inner-city elderly," Kaler said. "Since 1973, weve grown to 27 facilities in West Tennessee and western Kentucky some owned and some managed." Today the housing corporation owns or manages area facilities in Millington, Raleigh, Whitehaven and one on Stage Road called Luther Terrace.