The traditional image of a senior community includes “Acres” or “Glen” in the name and a huge, grassy campus with rolling hills. But that may be changing, if recent developments in the DC area are any indication.
The Grandview development in North Bethesda, Maryland, run by Erickson, and The Mather, a community “for those 62 and better” run by the company Mather, in Tysons are examples of high-rise retirement communities set in more urban areas.
Gale Morgan, senior vice president of sales for Mather, says the company operates both types of retirement communities, but that The Mather in Tysons, which will open next year, “will be our first committed urban-style community. And I really believe this is going to be a focus for us.”
A New Generation
Morgan says nearly 90 percent of the units in The Mather are already sold, and that more than 75 percent of the future residents of The Mather are under 75: “It is very much that boomer population, and they’re driving this.”
That generation of new older people, so to speak, is aging differently: “A good portion” of The Mather’s Tysons residents still work, whether full time or part time, and some take care of their grandchildren on a regular basis, Morgan says. “They’re very committed to the community, and they want to stay in the heart of it. But they still don’t want to cut the grass or clean the pool.”
Urban high-rises free residents from that responsibility, Morgan says, and the communities are walkable. The Tysons location, she adds, is a short walk from the Metro and near three freeways.
“The other thing we’re seeing is, they’ve lived in this community for 20, 30 years, and they want to stay,” Morgan says. Building a sprawling 50-acre campus in Tysons is not possible, so high-rises such as the Tysons location give residents the continuity they’re looking for. “And most of the people that will be living at The Mather are coming from single-family homes. So they’re excited about this walkable, more urban lifestyle.”
New Arrivals
Even so, nearly 20 percent of the new residents are coming from other locations, Morgan says, including people from such traditional retirement locations as Arizona and Florida. “They’re almost all coming from a smaller town” than the metropolitan DC area. “Many already have ties here — they’ve lived here in the past; they went to school here; perhaps their children live here — but they are choosing to leave those smaller residential areas like Scottsdale, Arizona, for the Tysons community.”
It’s not easy building two buildings in the middle of Tysons, one 27 stories and the other 19, Morgan says; it’s also not a living situation a lot of people are familiar with. But they’re making the leap: “Everything in this community is so rich: the arts, the entertainment, the professional sports, the outdoor living — it is so rich right here. I know that our residents want to keep easy access to that.”
Featured image courtesy of Mather
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