By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HYDE PARK - Neighbors and the operators of the Deupree House on Erie Avenue are finishing a compromise over a proposed $25 million expansion of the retirement center that would nearly double its.

The pending deal was announced Thursday when attorneys for both parties appeared in an administrative hearing before the director of Cincinnati's Department of Buildings and Inspections.

"People always complain about change and that's normal; (but) we want to have good relations with everyone around, all neighbors," said Joe Dehner, a downtown attorney representing Episcopal Retirement Homes Inc., a nonprofit that operates Deupree.

Plans call for a new wellness center including an indoor pool, exercise rooms, meditation room, multipurpose room and classrooms. There also will be 60 apartments added to the existing 87 units with a parking garage, expanded dining area, upgrade of existing apartments and more staff and resident parking.

Presales for the apartments are scheduled to begin this year. The project is expected to break ground in the summer of 2005 and construction is expected to last about 16 months.

The compromise ends one of several development battles under way in this upscale Cincinnati community, the second involving Episcopal Retirement Homes, which operates the Marjorie P. Lee Retirement Community on Shaw Avenue (a neighbor on Shaw has filed a court appeal over Lee's expansion).

Neighbors in 18 homes behind Deupree House were originally upset with plans to expand the building through a wooded area closer to their homes along Forest Hill Drive.

Especially concerned were five neighbors whose property abutted the woods, said Joe Trauth, a downtown attorney representing the Forest Hill Neighborhood Association.

Residents worried the expansion would be an intrusion, especially in the winter months when trees drop their leaves and the development would be visible from their backyards.

But Episcopal officials have agreed to put in a green space buffer between Deupree and the homes and will move the entrance to Deupree further east on Erie away from Forest Hill Drive. Parking also will be concentrated on the east side of the building.

Trauth said the neighbors were relieved that the impact of the development on the area and their high-end homes would be reduced.

Bill Langevin, director of Cincinnati's department of buildings and inspections, said he expects to approve the expansion once the compromise was final and signed by both parties.

E mail jedwards@enquirer.com