Jim and Alice Pappas (above) start an evening stroll through
Red Mill Village in Norton. (Christine Hochkeppel For The Boston
Globe Photo)
By Ron DePasquale, Globe Correspondent (The Boston Globe)
Janet Sturman's daughter calls her new home at Red Mill Village in Norton "the movie set" for its picture-perfect rendition of a friendly, colorful village life.
"My daughter is only 32,
but she says she can't wait to get older so she can move here," she
said. "You feel very safe when you walk down the street. It looks like a
movie set, like an old village, because it's just so perfect."
Red Mill Village is one of many new developments in Massachusetts reserved for people age 55 and older. Yet unlike some age-restricted developments in Florida, the Norton estate carefully replicates the New England aesthetic so that it doesn't feel like a place for old people.
With couples such as the Sturmans making up an increasingly larger part of the Massachusetts population, it's no wonder that age-restricted villages, especially those that cater to the more affluent and active set, have sprouted all over the state.
Janet and Paul Sturman take a pause from riding their tandem bicycle to chat with Red Mill Village neighbors Tela and Larry Finn. (Christine Hochkeppel For The Boston Globe Photo)
Yet the building spree shows signs of hitting a classic saturation point. And it's pricking a sensitive debate about the changing character of many of the towns embracing them. Some specialists worry such developments encourage an anti family bias of some communities, and also contribute to the state's housing problems because they use land that otherwise could be devoted to affordable homes for families.
Right now, there's no question 55-plus housing is driven by demographics. Massachusetts is undergoing a remarkable graying, with people age 55 and older projected to be 27.3 percent of the state's population by 2012, up from 24.6 percent today. Meanwhile, a 2005 study by the Citizens' Housing and Planning Association found that at least 24,000 units of age-restricted housing had been built or permitted in Massachusetts since 2000. And many more have been announced since.
Jane Marie O'Connor , president of the 55 Plus consulting firm and publisher of Mature Living Choices , predicted the demand for these developments will keep growing as baby boomers age. Boomers in Massachusetts are less interested in moving to the Sun Belt because many want to work longer, at least part time, and retire near their families, she said.
"People are living, longer healthier lifestyles, so retirement is different than for our grandfathers," O'Connor said. "These folks are involved with their families in a very close way. There was more of a generation gap before than now, because there's a lot more communication and the generational lines have blurred, so family ties are very strong."
Moreover, O'Connor said these developments are helping Massachusetts because they're drawing former residents back from the Sun Belt. She said they also appeal to immigrant families who are more "multi generational."
Indeed, Sturman and her husband are still working, running their store, Frantic Framers in Quincy. They weren't looking for a retirement community when they turned 55 several years ago and had started shopping for a maintenance-free home. But they liked the look of other developments built by Red Mill's owner, Thorndike Development, and so bought a three-bedroom attached home at the Norton property.
Red Mill Village is one of many new developments in Massachusetts reserved for people age 55 and older. Yet unlike some age-restricted developments in Florida, the Norton estate carefully replicates the New England aesthetic so that it doesn't feel like a place for old people.
With couples such as the Sturmans making up an increasingly larger part of the Massachusetts population, it's no wonder that age-restricted villages, especially those that cater to the more affluent and active set, have sprouted all over the state.
Janet and Paul Sturman take a pause from riding their tandem bicycle to chat with Red Mill Village neighbors Tela and Larry Finn. (Christine Hochkeppel For The Boston Globe Photo)
Yet the building spree shows signs of hitting a classic saturation point. And it's pricking a sensitive debate about the changing character of many of the towns embracing them. Some specialists worry such developments encourage an anti family bias of some communities, and also contribute to the state's housing problems because they use land that otherwise could be devoted to affordable homes for families.
Right now, there's no question 55-plus housing is driven by demographics. Massachusetts is undergoing a remarkable graying, with people age 55 and older projected to be 27.3 percent of the state's population by 2012, up from 24.6 percent today. Meanwhile, a 2005 study by the Citizens' Housing and Planning Association found that at least 24,000 units of age-restricted housing had been built or permitted in Massachusetts since 2000. And many more have been announced since.
Jane Marie O'Connor , president of the 55 Plus consulting firm and publisher of Mature Living Choices , predicted the demand for these developments will keep growing as baby boomers age. Boomers in Massachusetts are less interested in moving to the Sun Belt because many want to work longer, at least part time, and retire near their families, she said.
"People are living, longer healthier lifestyles, so retirement is different than for our grandfathers," O'Connor said. "These folks are involved with their families in a very close way. There was more of a generation gap before than now, because there's a lot more communication and the generational lines have blurred, so family ties are very strong."
Moreover, O'Connor said these developments are helping Massachusetts because they're drawing former residents back from the Sun Belt. She said they also appeal to immigrant families who are more "multi generational."
Indeed, Sturman and her husband are still working, running their store, Frantic Framers in Quincy. They weren't looking for a retirement community when they turned 55 several years ago and had started shopping for a maintenance-free home. But they liked the look of other developments built by Red Mill's owner, Thorndike Development, and so bought a three-bedroom attached home at the Norton property.
"It just turned out that we loved the unit and the aesthetics of the village," Sturman said. "What we found about it is there are other like-minded people our age, who have been through the struggle of raising families."
After opening two years ago, the development has sold about half of its 156 homes, said Bill Mullin , Thorndike's chief operating officer. Prices range from $356,625 for an attached home with 2,059 square feet, to $649,000 for a 3,781 square-foot detached "Expanded Ipswich" house. Residents are still active and use the walking trails, pool, and community gardens, he said.
"As you get older, you don't want to be around crying babies all the time," he said. "People have worked hard and want to be somewhere enjoyable and relaxing. It's not for everybody, but it is for a large number people who are starting over with their peers."
Thorndike is building another over-55 development on the edge of downtown Hudson. The central Massachusetts community has four age-restricted developments underway, for a total of 504 units.
The developments are popular with local authorities because they don't add to school costs, especially at a time when they find it difficult to get town voters to approve rising education budgets. Moreover they tend not to generate as much traffic as traditional developments, and the homes are often clustered tightly together, which preserves open space, another popular community goal.
In Hudson, town administrator Paul Blazar said "so far a good deal of what has been built has been sold, so there does seem to be some demand. Naturally, we don't want to be exclusively a population with over-55 people, but there does seem to be a fair amount of housing in general, so I'm not concerned that there is not enough housing for families."
These developments also crucially contribute to turnover in the Massachusetts housing market, as seniors who move into them free up a house that could then be available to a family to buy.
But Aaron Gornstein, executive director of the Citizens' Housing and Planning Association, said his agency worries such developments have become too popular with local communities. Massachusetts, he said, has "an important need for family housing, for people who are just starting out, and something we've heard from the business community is that we need to attract and retain a stable workforce . If you tilt too far toward age-restricted housing, the potential consequences are a lack of family housing."
Aware of risks of tilting too much to one demographic, some communities are struggling to accommodate or encourage growth that presents the right balance of population.
Kingston, for example, began receiving proposals from developers for 55-plus developments as far back as 1999. That had community officials worried about a "graying" of the town's voter base that would make it more difficult to get approvals for additional school funding, said Kingston planner Tom Bott.
Right now, the general slowdown in local real estate has struck the 55-plus market, too, as older homeowners who might want to move into these age-restricted communities are having trouble selling their current houses, said Christos Kuliopulos of the Littleton-based PrimeTime Communities real estate marketing and consulting firm.
Kuliopulos also said the 55-plus market in Massachusetts is out of balance. There is room for more such developments inside the Interstate 495 belt, but some communities beyond that road have too many.
In Holden, for example, where 450 age-restricted units have been built or planned, the Mount Pleasant community at the Holden Hills Country Club was unable to sell any of its 48 age-restricted units. So developer Roger Kane has asked the town for permission to lift the age restriction and open the property to all ages, and in exchange would place a conservation restriction on the golf course so that it would never be developed. Kane did not return calls seeking comment.
And some communities even are pushing back. Marshfield, after being inundated with over-55 proposals, has imposed a moratorium, and Easthampton is considering one. Derry, N.H., limits new units to 120 per year.
There are "pockets of overabundance," said O'Connor, the consultant, because some developers with no experience in the over-55 market don't bother studying the market's needs and local demand. Unless they are near the coast, over-55 developments typically draw from only a 10- to 20-mile radius, she said. Only 15 percent of seniors consider living in age-restricted housing, but that number could grow to 20 percent as baby boomers age, she said.
"Developers must do their homework; they can't go on their gut, and say if you build it, they will come," she said. "They can't just copy these things. There's a lot of product on the market."
And some in the housing industry suggest caution on 55-plus developments because they appeal to only a segment of the older population. Ted Tye , managing partner of Newton-based National Development, which is building several large mixed-uses complexes, said older buyers will be drawn to quality townhouses with a ground-floor master bedroom, regardless of age restrictions.
"The over-55 market is finding us in the traditional market," he said. "In fact, a lot of people don't want the age restriction, because they just want lots of amenities and they want to be around lots of different people."
There also seems to be some unease about a "Florida-zation" of parts of Massachusetts, of large pockets of elderly housing complexes. Dennis J. Lipka , Holden's growth management director, wonders what will follow when the number of seniors in Massachusetts levels off.
(Continue reading-Source/Boston Globe )
