Anyone can record where they’ve been, but mapping your direction forward requires artistry, acumen and intuition. Those skills characterize a successful strategic planning process for 50+ development in the coming decade. Which new paths should builders, designers and planners consider as they draw their new treasure maps to success in the 50+ housing market?

Projecting Needs of the Later Boomer generation:

• Proximity to population centers:  Baby boomers are aging, but not necessarily getting closer to retirement. Decreased wealth means that workers will need to be near their jobs, but they will continue to look to simplify their lives once job definitions are gone.
• Community with other generations:  Family looms large as a priority for boomers. Their parents are living longer, and increasingly the boomers themselves want and need to participate in their children’s and grandchildren’s daily lives. This often dictates that boomers stay near home rather than moving to sunbelt locations.
• Conscientious communities:  Sustainable communities rise in the estimation of today’s 50+

  The community pool at Sun City Huntley is a community destinations that fosters interaction and provides recreational opportunities for residents. Courtesy  SEC Planning, LLC.

  buyers. According to Joe Verdoorn, of SEC Planning, and Consultants, Austin, Texas, “Booomers established the environmental movement, and these people are still concerned with the environment, more so now than ever.”
• Stimulation and personal growth: Lifelong learning has become a crucial goal of many boomers who seek personal fulfillment and intellectual challenges throughout their lives. Establishing meaningful friendships also is a goal of seniors choosing a new community.
• Health and fitness:  Healthy boomers today have the longest life expectancy in history. And they plan to live robustly as well as long — a goal that entails regular exercise, recreation, good nutrition and high-quality health care. Good food and walkability, can help deliver that goal of an active and long life.

Implications for Land Planning

Vertical integration — independent apartments, assisted living and skilled nursing, all on one campus — has long been the norm for 50+ development.  Age-restricted communities still are the rule in many parts of the country. Such communities represented an easy choice for tradition-minded residents and referrers, while for developers, they were a profitable, easily-replicated model.

We feel strongly that smaller communities will exemplify success in the future. Neotraditional principles resonate with a generation that grew up in the heyday of small-town and big-city America. Peter Crowley of LandDesign, Alexandria, Va., points out that now, “Price and product variety are more appealing.  Multiple generations, and multiple uses within a community create a more vibrant (and more sustainable) community. And varied product types and usages help insulate developers against market downturns in one sector.”

The scarcity of attractive large parcels has increased land acquisition costs in populous areas to untenable levels, whereas infill settings often deliver access to a demographically attractive market and to important amenities and infrastructure.

There is a real risk that age-restricted communities built today will be age-restricted ghost towns in 20 years. The Echo Boom was not so loud or large as the Baby Boom, and it will be important for developers to imagine a future after Baby Boomers move on, in which their communities must be welcoming to all ages.

The Challenges of Entitlement

There are certainly challenges in getting communities approved without age restriction.  Building at high density is always a challenge. “Entitlements may dictate the best approach to land development," Crowley said. "Age-restricted housing has been attractive to municipalities because it doesn’t require any extra school capacity.”

Age-targeted communities can produce similar cost benefits to municipalities by reducing infrastructure expenses. They are “not so hard on infrastructure as traditional suburban development,” Crowley says. While a household in a single-family community will average 10 car trips per day into and out of their driveway, households in active adult communities typically see only four trips. 

Because of diminished need for space dedicated to roads, communities with older residents can support a higher residential density. In this context, developers can make profitable use of infill sites that often have been dormant for many years. This has a positive impact on the vitality of a community and helps integrate it into a larger urban or suburban fabric. 

Development within or near established communities helps satisfy a basic instinct.  “The desire to live near the next generation has always been strong.  I’d recommend locating a community closest to the highest possible concentration of eldest daughters, Verdoon said. ” Access to family strengthens the social infrastructure of a place, building loyalty to and identity with a community.

Planning the Built Environment

Following a brutal period for investment portfolios and home sale prices, many boomers are downsizing their retirement dreams, and their dream homes. The ideal of the big house with a big yard has given way to a more sensible plan of modest dimensions, unpretentious architecture and a walkable orientation.

BartonPartners Architects developed varied but compatible designs for the homes of Woodbury Junction in New York, using traditional American housing styles in this example of its many designs for active adult housing.

“Large master-planned communities are incorporating several housing types to synthesize a traditional lifestyle, ” Crowley said. Active adult sections adjoin family neighborhoods, with features of each crossing into the other — for instance, tot lots are a must for both neighborhoods. These allow not only close contact between generations, but also a convenient transition for one section to another for boomers who choose to age in place.

Sustainability is more than a buzzword — it is built in to tomorrow’s successful communities. Boomers are demanding energy-efficient homes, both to economize and to reduce their carbon footprint. And they want walkability. As they change community settings, boomers want to decrease their dependence on the automobile. Walking has a recreational aspect, a social aspect, and a well-demonstrated positive effect on longevity. 

Clubhouse design and function have evolved. “Having a community center is critical, but it should be a social center, not necessarily a functional or commercial center,” Verdoon said.  A higher-density community obviates the need for people to have one meeting place, since they are naturally meeting all over the place. Decentralization means reducing emphasis on facilities and greater emphasis on programs — these communities often need “virtual” rather than physical centers. This also saves developers money and keeps costs low so residents are not burdened by untenable fees.

Peter Crowley says that a common element in his current projects is the inclusion of many small “pocket” parks. “All homes are within two blocks of a green space," said Crowley. "These help create an authentic sense of place and bring about 'knowledge accidents' — places where things can happen.” At a community in northern Virginia, one park heavily planted with roses became the regular gathering place for a group of gardeners, while another park with a military memorial became the favorite destination of the many veterans among the residents.

Communicating Unique Themes

Health focus, sustainability, affordability, social life and intergenerational interaction are not just qualities delivered by successful 50+ communities — they are themes to be emphasized in marketing messages.  Marketing tomorrow’s 50+ community requires a focus on uniqueness.

Verdoorn observes that boutique developments are the trend of the future. "Boomers are a very complex group; you can’t make a global statement about what they want in a community," he said. Communities with high cultural activities are attracting certain segments; university-oriented communities are drawing others. But any affinity that you can name — Harley Davidson riders,  car club members, graduates of a certain college — could be successfully developed.”

The variety of lifestyles and product types available within a community provide a winning message. Access to a buyer’s existing network of family and friends in a nearby — or in the same — community is an extremely compelling message.

Building modest but high quality homes, and supplementing, rather than duplicating infrastructure make an environmentally and fiscally attractive model. And, of course, in this economy, affordability is critical. Recognize that boomer buyers may have reduced means, and build a product that meets him or her at a comfortable price point.

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This article drawn from a presentation by Thomas C. Barton, III, AIA, principal, BartonPartners Architects Planners, Inc., Norristown, PA, at the NAHB 50+ Housing Council Symposium in April, 2009, Co-presenters were land planners Joe Verdoorn of  SEC Planning in Austin, TX, and Peter Crowley of LandDesign in Alexandria, VA.  If you would like a version of the full presentation, please e-mail Jessica Barron at jbarron@bartonpartners.com.
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