MARCH/APRIL 2012
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Niche Communities
Cater to Common
Interests and
Lifestyles
A
fter retiring, Rae and Ed Spake
traveled all over the country
in their recreational vehicle.
They loved the RV culture
and didn’t intend to give it up. However, their plan was almost derailed
when Ed’s vision failed. But rather
than abandoning their dream, the Californians found a place where they
could hang up their keys yet still be
part of the lifestyle they enjoyed.
They made a rather unconventional
choice in a retirement community: The
Spakes settled in Rainbow’s End, the
pen with senior housing. We have
gone from Coke to Diet Coke, and
the other flavors are about to take
off,” says Carle, founding director of
the Program in Senior Housing
Administration at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA.
Demand for retirement communities
is expected to surge over the next four
decades as baby boomers and Generation X workers retire. According to
the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of
Americans over the age of 65 is
expected to account for 20 percent of
employees, gays and lesbians, RVers
and country music singers. Gerard says,
“There are even niche communities for
Native American Indians and AsianAmericans, including one for JapaneseAmericans and another for Koreans, so
different flavors of Asian-Americans.
That’s how specific it can get.”
Under the umbrella of niche or
affinity communities, these alternative
housing arrangements come in all
sizes and forms. Some are communestyle cohousing, while others are
neighborhoods with a handful or
ment experts anticipate the new breed
of affinity communities will be even
more interest- and lifestyle-specific.
Excluding the active-adult choices,
Gerard estimates there are about 100
niche or affinity communities in the
U.S., with more on the way. Some,
such as those for former military personnel, offer continuing care that gives
residents services as they age, while
others provide neither meals nor care
but have created an arena for residents
to pursue their passions.
At the Burbank Senior Artists Colony
the country’s only assisted-living facility for people whose home is an RV.
“We’re still living and sleeping in our
RV,” Rae says. “This community has
allowed us to extend our lifelong
dream. We can still feel alive, energetic
and be with people who share our
interests.”
Trend watchers anticipate that there
will be more such focused senior communities as Rainbow’s End. “Baby
boomers are driving the niche market,” Carle says. “Because of their critical mass, every portfolio of every
letting their children dictate the
remainder of their days.
Tailor-made retirement will likely
usher in more boutiquelike communities, Carle says, so don’t be surprised if
there’s one for Grateful Dead fans one
day. “Why not?” he adds. “Forming a
community doesn’t take much. You
need about 75 people, and don’t tell
me you can’t find 75 Grateful Dead
fans. They once drew a quarter of a
million people to a concert.”
Trend trackers foresee projects catering to any interest and hobby people
DAYBREAK
META HOUSING CORP.
Today’s retirees are fueling neighborhoods geared toward specific interests and lifestyles in
locales around the country. In San Antonio, Air Force Village has urban and Hill Country
campuses. In California, painters and poets are drawn to the Burbank Senior Artists Colony
(center), and Daybreak Cohousing (right) is an all-ages haven in Portland, OR.
AIR FORCE VILLAGE
The Growing Choices in Niche Communities
University-affiliated developments, cohousing are among diverse retire ment options catering to a range of interests, affinities • By Van Sheridan
140-acre Livingston, TX, headquarters
of the Escapees RV Club, one of the
largest associations of RV enthusiasts.
Rae and Ed are part of an evolution
in living choices that some experts
predict will reshape retirement.
Noted authority Andrew Carle compares the senior housing movement
to the development of the Coca-Cola
family. “For 100 years, there was one
kind of Coke. Then Diet Coke came
out in 1982. Now, 30 years later, there
are dozens of flavors. We have Vanilla Coke, cherry Coke, cherry Coke
Zero, Coke with Lime, Coke with
vitamins. That is what’s going to hap44 WHERE TO RETIRE
the population by 2050, doubling to
more than 88 million. Taking this cue,
the housing sector has started diversifying its senior living portfolio,
expanding options to meet manifold
needs and wants.
“There are now communities for
nuns, nudists, artists, actors, teachers
and virtually every religion, from
Christian Scientists and Seventh-day
Adventists, Presbyterians, Catholics
and Zen Buddhists,” says Annie Gerard, whose Apt Market Research company tracks senior housing trends.
Her list goes on to include existing or
proposed communities for postal
more homes. More prolific settings
include university- or military-based
communities that offer apartments,
condos, duplexes and cottages. Gaining popularity are senior apartments
and NORCs, or naturally occurring
retirement communities, which allow
people to age in place, whether
remaining in their homes or moving
to a dwelling nearby.
The niche segment has been around
for years, notably the master-planned,
active-adult developments that have
wooed people with stellar amenities,
including golf courses, clubhouses,
pools and restaurants. However, retireCOPYRIGHT© WHERE TO RETIRE 2012
in Burbank, CA, for example, residents
paint, write and explore the arts. Silver
Sage Village, a cohousing neighborhood in Boulder, CO, encourages residents to nourish body, mind and soul
through sustainable and thoughtful living that embraces such holistic
approaches as meditation. Along with
a verdant community garden, the project of 16 duplexes and attached
homes boasts a communal kitchen
and meditation room.
At the RV community of Rainbow’s
End, retirees like 80-somethings Rae
and Ed are bound together by stories
of the road. They also have access to
COPYRIGHT© WHERE TO RETIRE 2012
industry has exploded. So now they
want more choices.”
Last year, the nation’s first wave of
an estimated 78 million baby boomers
reached the longtime standard retirement age of 65 (though the age to get
full Social Security benefits is now 66
for early boomers and rising to 67 for
the late boomers). The senior market
is growing exponentially, Gerard says,
with one in every 2.5 households now
headed by someone age 55 or older.
In addition, emerging seniors are not
only diverse but also more engaged
and hands-on, preferring to take ownership of their retirement rather than
have. But will there be more than one
Grateful Dead neighborhood? Not likely. However, most experts agree that
over the next decade, there will be
hundreds of university-based developments around the country. Here’s a
snapshot of some university-affiliated
neighborhoods and other popular
niche concepts.
Lifelong Learning
“I specialize in university-based
communities because I think it will be
the largest niche,” says Carle, who
coined the term UBRC, or universitybased retirement community. CurrentMARCH/APRIL 2012 45
A movement that started in the mid2000s has gained momentum. Cohousing, a concept from Denmark introduced to the U.S. by California architect Charles Durrett, inspired creation
of the ElderSpirit Community in Abingdon, VA; Silver Sage Village in Boulder,
CO; and the small Glacier Circle,
formed by eight friends and couples in
Davis, CA. These brought to life neighborhoods custom-built by seniors
seeking a close-knit environment of
homeowners with common values.
Now many senior cohousing projects are in the pipeline, including
Oakcreek Cohousing Community in
Stillwater, OK, on about seven acres
surrounded by mature trees and a
creek. So far, 11 of the 24 units in six
fourplex buildings have been sold,
says Pat Darlington, who was motivated to help create Oakcreek by Durrett’s book, “The Senior Cohousing
Handbook,” (New Society Publishers,
$34.95) and conceived the idea after
her father was diagnosed with
Alzheimer’s disease.
“For two years he had been driving
over curbs, people’s driveways, but
none of his neighbors told us about
this,” says the 60-year-old psychologist. “I don’t want to grow old where
people didn’t care enough to get
involved. As you get older, you can
feel a bit isolated. With cohousing, I’ll
be living in a community, with people
whom I’ll share meals with, see daily
50 WHERE TO RETIRE
and do things with.”
In cohousing, owners pool their
money to build the project, which
might have as few as five homes and
as many as 30. Homes may be
detached or share walls, and there are
common, shared spaces for gatherings, such as a dining room for community meals. Prices run the gamut
from $100,000 to more than $1 million.
At Oakcreek, where owners expect to
start moving in later this year, homes
run $151,000 for one bedroom and
$267,000 for two bedrooms. Each unit
has its own kitchen.
“We plan to have three or four
shared meals a week,” Pat says.
“There’s a nice dining room that will
accommodate about 40 of us. We’ll
also have a lounge with a fireplace
and a TV for our big movie night.”
In California’s historic gold rush
country, construction of Wolf Creek
Lodge at Grass Valley is in its final
stages. Resident Jacque Bromm, 62,
anticipates moving in this summer. So
far, 24 of the 30 units have been sold,
ranging from $250,000 to the high
$400,000s, with an estimated homeowners association fee of $253 to $331
a month. Because these are energyefficient homes, monthly electricity
bills are expected to be only $10 to
$50.
“There are four words I think of in
regard to cohousing — healthier, safer,
more social and stimulating,” says
Jacque, a retired special-education
teacher. Some cohousing communities
WONDERLAND HILL DEVELOPMENT CO.
DAYBREAK
REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION OF WHERE TO RETIRE
Senior Cohousing
prepare for aging of homeowners. For
example, Wolf Creek Lodge plans to
set aside a living unit for a caretaker.
Intergenerational cohousing developments outnumber ones specified for
older residents. Even so, buyers tend
to be 50-plus because they have more
equity, says cohousing developer Jim
Leach, whose Washington Village in
Boulder, CO, is all ages, but he anticipates many buyers will be 50 and
older.
Take Baird Smith, 72, who wanted to
surround himself with people of all
ages and opted for Daybreak Cohousing in Portland, OR, a 30-home development where residents range from
toddlers to retirees. “There are five of
us who are in our 60s and 70s,” says
Baird, a former computer programmer.
“I like the age spread. It works well in
this kind of community. On occasions,
I’ll pick up their kids from school and
in exchange, the younger people can
climb the ladder and clean the gutter.”
Van Sheridan is the senior writer for
Where to Retire.
ave a comment, opinion or additional information about anything
we’ve featured? We’d love to hear from
you. Go to www.WhereToRetire.com and
click on “Write to Us.” Or, write to Readers
Mailbox, Where to Retire, 5851 San Felipe
St., Suite 500, Houston, TX 77057. Letters
may be edited for space.
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Niche Communities
Here is contact information for the
various types of communities mentioned in the article.
RV Lifestyle
n Livingston, TX: Escapees RV
Club, www.escapees.com, and Escapees CARE, www.escapeescare.
org
University-Affiliated
n Durham, NC: The Forest at
Duke, www.forestduke.com
n Gainesville, FL: Oak Hammock
at the University of Florida, www.oak
hammock.org
n State College, PA: The Village at
Penn State, www.villageatpennstate.
com
Military Retirees
n DuPont, WA: Patriots Landing,
www.patriotslanding.com
n San Antonio: Air Force Village I
and II, www.airforcevillages.com
n Viera, FL: Indian River Colony
Club, www.indianrivercolonyclub.
com
n Williamsburg, VA: Patriots Colony at Williamsburg, www.patriots
colony.com
Cohousing
n Abingdon, VA: ElderSpirit Community, www.elderspirit.net
n Boulder, CO: Silver Sage Village,
www.silversagevillage.com
n Boulder, CO: Washington Village, www.washington-village.com
n Grass Valley, CA: Wolf Creek
Lodge, www.wolfcreeklodge.org
n Portland, OR: Daybreak Cohousing, www.daybreakcohousing.
org
n Stillwater, OK: Oakcreek Cohousing Community, www.stillwater
seniorcohousing.com
Arts Interests
n Burbank, CA: Burbank Senior
Artists Colony, www.seniorartists
colony.com
n North Hollywood, CA: The Piedmont, www.thepiedmontseniorapart
ments.com
REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION OF WHERE TO RETIRE
Gay and Lesbian
n Boone, NC: Carefree Cove,
www.carefreecove.com
n Fort Myers, FL: The Resort on
Carefree Boulevard, www.resorton
cb.com
n Pecos, NM: Birds of a Feather
Community, www.birdsofafeather.
com
n Santa Fe, NM: RainbowVision,
www.rainbowvisionsantafe.com
52 WHERE TO RETIRE
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