Retirement Homes Go High-Rise and Urban
New continuing-care retirement communities include the Skyline Commons in New York City.
By LINDA BAKER
Published: April 1, 2007
WHEN Dick Harris retired 16 years ago, he and his wife, Lynne, moved first to Sarasota, Fla., and then to a sprawling retirement community 45 minutes from Chicago. Now the couple expect to adopt a different kind of senior lifestyle — they are planning to move next year to the Clare at Water Tower, a luxury high-rise under construction in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood.
“Having worked all my life in major cities, I’m looking forward to getting back to community activities,” said Mr. Harris, 77, a former president of the radio group at Westinghouse Broadcasting.
He and his wife will be able to walk to the Art Institute, the symphony and their church. “If you stay active and involved, you can add years to your life,” Mr. Harris said. “Lynne and I both feel this is a healthy way to age.”
The Clare is a continuing-care retirement community, a type of senior housing that offers residents access to independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing care in the same complex. Most of these communities — the number increased to 2,240 in 2005 from 274 in the early 1980s, according to the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging — consist of several buildings, and are found in suburban or rural settings.
But now a growing number of such retirement communities, many developed by nonprofit organizations, are coming to cities.
About 15 continuing-care communities are planned or under construction in city neighborhoods, said Kathryn L. Brod, a former director of continuing care for the association and now a senior vice president for Zeigler, a senior living finance company. “There is increased interest in doing C.C.R.C.’s in urban environments,” she said.
There are only about 30 urban continuing-care retirement communities, many built in the 1980s, according to Joan Annett, who handles senior living financing for the Cain Brothers, an investment banking firm.
There are communities in San Francisco and Philadelphia, and one in Boston. The first one in New York City — the 10-story Skyline Commons in Jamaica, Queens — is scheduled to open in 2008.
Featuring hotel-style amenities and services, the new metropolitan retirement communities have expensive entry fee and monthly maintenance charges and are a response to an expanding market of affluent and active retirees.
The communities also represent another stage in the nation’s urban renaissance, which has attracted an influx of empty nesters and young professionals over the last decade.
“People are moving back into cities to take advantage of the convenience and amenities they have to offer,” said Randal J. Richardson, president of Classic Residence by Hyatt, the senior living affiliate of the Hyatt Corporation.
Next year, Classic Residence will break ground on its first inner-city continuing-care community; it will be in Dallas near the lively Uptown neighborhood.
Last year, Pacific Retirement Services, a nonprofit organization based in Medford, Ore., began construction on the Mirabella, a continuing-care community in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle. The project will have 289 independent-living apartments, 32 assisted-living units, 20 “memory care” suites for people with Alzheimer’s, and 22 skilled-nursing suites. There will also be a saline swimming pool, four restaurants, an arts studio and a 300-seat theater. The Mirabella is a few blocks from a Whole Foods market, the Cornish College of the Arts and the central shopping and entertainment district.
“Today’s buyer doesn’t want to be put out to pasture, where they never see anybody other than someone else who is put out to pasture,” said Paul Riepma, Mirabella’s senior vice president of marketing. “They want to be connected to the energy of the city.”
Although the new communities resemble upscale condominium projects, they are regulated as insurance or health care products, depending on the state in which they are located. The communities must comply with licensing requirements for skilled nursing and residential care facilities. Officials also monitor the communities’ finances to ensure that providers can meet their service obligations.
The developments can be challenging to build. Unlike suburban campuses, high-rise communities are “vertically integrated,” said Paul Donaldson, an architect who worked on the Clare. “You have to integrate the institutional standards into a residential model in an understated manner.”
Design requirements include shortening travel distances to elevators and facilitating access to services on different floors.
Navigating the residential costs, which vary by institution, is also a complex undertaking. “I always tell people, if you’ve seen one C.C.R.C., you’ve seen one C.C.R.C.,” said Lauren Shaham, a spokeswoman for the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging. “C.C.R.C.’s can provide a lot of protection as long as consumers understand what they get up front and what they don’t get.”
At the Clare, which is on the campus of Loyola University, Mr. and Mrs. Harris will pay a $1 million entry fee for a 1,700-square-foot apartment on the 44th floor, with views of Lake Michigan. There is also a $5,000 monthly fee, which covers one meal a day, maid service and utilities. Should either spouse need to move out of the apartment into long-term care, the monthly fee will cover one of the Clare’s 32 private skilled nursing or 15 memory care suites, with supplementary costs for two additional meals a day.
Ninety percent of the Clare entry fee is refundable to the resident’s estate. The fee is also refundable — at the same rate — should a resident choose to move out of the facility.
David Rensvold, a 69-year-old retired pilot, and his wife, Sandy, have reserved a $691,000 two-bedroom independent-living apartment at the Mirabella in Seattle. Their monthly charges will be about $4,200. At the Mirabella, residents who transfer into long-term care pay $130 a day instead of the monthly fee. Ninety percent of the entry fee is refundable.
“Elderly people who have taken a more proactive approach live an awfully lot nicer than people who wait until they have to move,” Mr. Rensvold said. “We didn’t want to live in a cloistered place where you spend a lot of time on bridge and macramé. Downtown is where the fun is at.”
Indeed, the urbanization of the senior living market is redefining both cities and the people who move there.
Dr. Phillip Williams, a Dallas neurosurgeon in his mid-60s, has lived in the suburbs all his life, most recently in a North Dallas home with acreage and a swimming pool. He and his wife, Bobbie Sue, recently reserved a two-bedroom unit at the Classic Residence by Hyatt, where entry fees range from $400,000 to $1.7 million. Monthly fees range from $3,300 to $7,000 and 90 percent of the entry fee is refundable.
They said they were looking forward to exercising on the Katy Trail, a biking and hiking path, and walking to Nick & Sam’s, a popular steakhouse.
“It’s simplified but dignified living,” Dr. Williams said.
A model of the Clare at Water Tower in Chicago.
The Classic Residence by Hyatt in Dallas.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company 
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