Jack McKeown, president of Conemarra Partners, New York, and fellow presenters Susan Brecht and Margaret Wylde will address development in a session titled "Developing Active Adult Communities: A New Model for the Baby Boom Generation" at the Building for Boomers and Beyond: 50+ Housing Symposium ^SM in Philadelphia. Here's a glimpse of the information attendees will hear at that event.

Of the 77.5 million baby boomers — those born between the years 1946 and 1964 — more than 32 million have reached the age of fifty, and one turns sixty every 8 seconds. Eleven million out of a total 46 million boomer households can be classified as affluent, with net income exceeding $100,000 per annum and/or net worth in excess of $500,000. This conference session will focus on the affluent boomer segment, and propose that an unprecedented residential real estate opportunity is emerging over the next ten to fifteen years, creating an incremental demand for 1.9 million active-adult housing units to be located within 5,000 added active-adult retirement communities (AARCs). The potential exists to create more than  $70 billion (present dollars) in incremental real estate value, subject to the critical constraints of capital and land availability.

The following development characteristics must be understood when confronting this powerful submarket of affluent boomers:
• In the trade-off between affordability and lifestyle, these boomers are predisposed to place a greater emphasis on an active lifestyle (i.e., luxury features and amenity mix), which should be the chief selling point of an AARC.
• Given the shrinking availability of large tracts of entitled land, many of these upscale boomers show a greater flexibility in considering urban and suburban infill locations, or areas adjacent to denser town centers.
• This segment is far more inclined to pay cash for their retirement home, simplifying and accelerating the sales process.
• Affluent boomers promise to bring more tax dollars and discretionary expenditures to the surrounding community, which aids the entitlement process with local planning boards.

Developers who are interested in capitalizing on this opportunity must first shed their preconceptions of what constitutes an active-adult community. A new  hybrid model is emerging, one that combines elements of New Urbanism or Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND) with resort-style amenities and convenience, all within walking distance of denser, mixed-use commercial centers. A few homebuilders are recognizing this trend, and are providing an expanded range of innovative housing options that combine the comforts and convenience of resort-style retirement communities with the aesthetics, amenities, and “connectedness” of traditional neighborhoods. According to a recent National Association of Realtors’ study, a majority of boomers prefer to “age in place,” maintaining the social connections, personal and professional relationships, and comfortable familiarity that come with an established urban or suburban neighborhood.

This phenomenon represents a clear departure from the retreat to the Sunbelt that characterized retirement preferences among the World-War-II generation. Active-adult development is moving away from far-flung areas and isolated, gated communities to mixed-use hubs and commercial centers. Boomer homebuyers in the 50+ bracket want to be connected to life outside their immediate residential surroundings and do not want to depend on automobiles to access shopping, entertainment and cultural stimulation. Having a connection to a larger and more dynamic community is increasingly essential, according to the survey data. These attributes of connectedness, walkability, and diversity of uses within a denser environment describe some of the fundamental features of New Urbanism as it has evolved over the last 20 years.

Certain key design and amenity features emerge as essential in attracting the highly discriminating boomer buyer, based on an array of consumer research data. Critical community characteristics include walkability; access to mixed-use town centers that provide ample shopping, restaurants and entertainment; proximity to a university or other cultural/educational institutions; community fitness and social centers (clubhouse); proximity to natural resources such as an ocean, lake, or mountain; and access to public transportation. Low on the totem pole of priorities are golf courses and gated security, perhaps the defining characteristics of the standard model AARC that appealed to the Eisenhower Generation.

In terms of interior and exterior design features, the boomer market indicates that first-floor master suites; customizable floor plans and finishes; spa-like bathrooms; open-plan kitchens and great rooms; low-maintenance exteriors and landscaping; gas fireplaces; high efficiency mechanicals, plus green materials and sustainable building standards are essential considerations.  A powerful downsizing trend expresses itself in a preference for smaller unit-sizes and lots, with an average home-size of approximately 2,000 square feet. While single-family detached homes continue to appeal to the majority of active boomers, an increased demand for townhouses and condominiums is strongly in evidence, especially townhouses.

During the presentation, we will begin by analyzing the emerging market for such new style, hybrid retirement communities; identifies their architectural and development characteristics, and develops a recommended set of success factors to help define these projects for the future. In the second half, we will explore two important case studies that represent different applications of TND concepts to the 50+ housing market. 

The first case focuses on Warwick Grove, a 120-acre, age-restricted community currently under construction. It lies approximately 50 miles northwest of New York City, in the Belle Vale section of New York State. The developer is Leyland Associates, LLC of Tuxedo Park, N.Y., whose CEO, Steve Maun, sits on the board of the Congress for New Urbanism. The second case involves New Town, a 600-acre mixed-use development on the outskirts of Williamsburg, Va., now entering its third development phase. The presentation identifies those critical success factors that have resulted in rapid absorption and above-average ROI for both developers.

Jack McKeown is president of Conemarra Partners, a New York marketing and strategic consultancy focused on real estate development opportunities in the active adult market. He currently is involved with a group of investors in developing a large-scale active adult community in Virginia. He is a member of the NAHB’s 50+ Housing Council, the Center for High Density Development, and the Congress for the New Urbanism. Contact him through e-mail, or call him at 212-292-2918. [Return to top]