I was reading an article the other day about the fact that few people in America walk to work. Most of us drive to the supermarket. But more older people these days are looking for a community where they can enjoy a full life without a car. The article explained how Ben Brown and his wife, Christine, weren’t really thinking about retirement when they moved to a small town nestled in the Smoky Mountains near Asheville, a haven for many East Coast and Midwest retirees.
“We loved the idea of living in a small town in a rural mountain area,” Mr. Brown recalled. “And we converted a summer house to a year-round home to suit our tastes.”
Yet Mr. Brown, a 70-year-old writer, and his 66-year-old wife said they had second thoughts as they made the transition toward retirement.
“We realized ‘aging in place’ means a lot more than just a comfortable house,” Mr. Brown said. “So we began thinking more about ‘aging in community.’ That means an urban neighborhood where you can walk or take transit to just about everything you need.”
Ben and his wife are considered the “young” old… seniors who are demographically just into the category of senior living and services. The story went on to talk about West Asheville, a vibrant, urban neighborhood, brimming with trend new restaurants, inviting shops and a number of bus routes into the larger city next door. Nearly every place they wanted to go was within walking distance, a major benefit for those who don’t want to drive everywhere as they get older.
This made me think a lot about our march toward redevelopment and the larger community in which Beatitudes is located and the community we are excited about continuing to define on this campus. And when I say excited, I truly do mean that is the sharpest sense of the word.
I recently had the pleasure of speaking to the Design Studio group for a couple of weeks and it was enlightening for many to learn of the amount of research that we do to plan and forecast what services, amenities, price points, logistics, technology and environment make for the best in senior living. One of the terms that we have begun to hear a lot of in urban planning is “walkable” and this has long been a hallmark of life plan communities (previously known as continuing care retirement communities)… that we organize a campus such as Beatitudes to emulate a growing, mixed-use neighborhood with ample amenities to provide a “good life.” As a result, our campus as seen the evolution of four restaurants which are available to all residents regardless of their home location in independent or assisting living or nursing care. A bank, ceramic studio, computer lab, library, gift shop… there is a large list of these conveniences. What is rather thrilling is that we now are on the edge of two facets in the life of the campus that can help us all set the bar far higher in the new age of senior living.
One is our own redevelopment plan which has been revisited, reviewed, rearranged, revamped, redesigned and researched (insert every “re” word you can imagine!) again and again during the year that I have been here on campus and before. Why? Achieving marketable feasibility is far more intricate than merely building new apartments or patio homes and hoping for the best.
Often retirement communities have been slow to change. But the most successful take the time to really assess what makes the most sense and build around those needs.
Now one of the truly exciting facets that very few life plan communities can boast. Enter our new paradigm: the walkable, urban space envisioned by the emerging 19North Community Association which our Resident Community Outreach Committee has helped ignite. Emanating out of the completion of the lite rail along 19th Avenue, a number of community members from surrounding neighborhoods and businesses determined that a new opportunity existed to redefine the area as a walkable, safe and invigorated area of powerful living. Now couple that with Mayor Stanton’s determination to achieve an “Age Friendly Community” status. I was very honored to be the only senior living community representative named to a new sub-committee to study that topic and was sworn in at the city council this past January.
What a stellar opportunity we have! We are seeking to not only program on our own campus, but help define what is “age friendly” in our neighborhood and provide even more access to opportunities for diverse interest. The theme is simple: Get out and walk/utilize easily assessable short distance transportation to basic services such as our campus buses. We are thinking about folks like the Browns that I mentioned at the beginning of this article as we plan our next generation of this life plan community.
Walkability is much more than a hip marketing pitch. It’s linked to better health, social engagement and higher property values. The researchers Philippa Clarke and Linda George found that walkable, mixed-use environments could possibly reduce disabilities many face as they age. Pedestrian-friendly communities promote walking to a grocery store, cafe or other services like the salon or library such as we have here on campus or nearby.
Although there is clearly a growing demand for walkable, urban retirement communities, they are difficult to build within cities, said Christopher Leinberger, a developer based in Washington and a professor at the George Washington University School of Business. Mr. Leinberger noted that most mainstream retirement developers had traditionally favored suburban or exurban sites that involve sprawling “greenfield” building on relatively cheap farmland. The new approach, by contrast, is for dense, urban or town-centered sites that are accessible for services and socially vibrant.
“The model used to be to isolate old people on cul-de-sacs backing up to a golf course,” Mr. Leinberger said. “The new model just beginning to rise is for walkable urban places.” And here we are in our north central Phoenix location doing exactly that. I love being a part the development of a new cutting edge model for senior living. Beatitudes Campus has probably one of the most unique positions in helping redefine high quality senior living that could possibly exist – a long history of quality services on our own 22 acres and now integrating into the surrounding community determined to raise the standard of living for all.
But there are often obstacles. Age-friendly communities within cities may require extensive infrastructure improvements, including wider sidewalks, bike lanes, more public transportation options and longer pedestrian signal walk times. Thankfully, the mayor and council seem determined to invest in the improvements.
Mr. Leinberger, in a G.W.U. study, found that the walkability factor added more than 72 percent in increased housing value compared with car-dominated developments, where he says prices will fall over time as America ages. He provides a short list of items to consider when defining and planning an age friendly, walkable community.
Do they have quality health care institutions nearby? Is public transportation adequate? Will you need barrier-free sidewalks and retail establishments? How easy is it to leave and visit other parts of a city or its metropolitan region? What about local colleges for cultural amenities and lifelong learning programs? The answers to these questions are basically favorable for those residing here and we’re just beginning.
I’ll be anxious to continue to update you on the progress of 19North and the Age Friendly Sub-Committee. We present our initial findings and recommendations at the June, 2017 council meeting. And, of course, we will have a great deal more to publish about our own redevelopment in the next few months. These are indeed very significant times for the campus and I’m so proud to be a part of what will be the foundation for the look, feel and service of Beatitudes Campus for many years to come.
