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While senior living development remains muted, some organizations are pushing ahead with new projects to propel the industry forward.
Operators are finding ways to move ahead with new developments despite current challenges in securing financing and managing construction costs.
While some organizations have remained on the sidelines, others are stepping up with creative and innovative ideas to meet incoming demand and adapt to future challenges.
Concepts observed this year include the proliferation of mixed-use developments that incorporate senior housing, a steady flow of active adult growth, and the resurgence of cooperative senior living. These are five senior living projects worth tracking in 2024 and beyond:
‘Integrated’ development with senior living
A mixed-use development in the Pacific Northwest could serve as a glimpse into the future of marrying senior living and mixed-use, all-ages spaces and designs.
The community, known as Hyas Point in Washougal, Washington, is a project of developer developed by RKm Development. As planned, the project’s first phase of construction will add streets, four buildings with over 270 apartments and 56,000 square-feet of retail space, as first reported by Camas-Washington Post Record.
Central Bethany / RKm DevelopmentAmenities at the community will include a library, multiple kitchens, activity spaces and access to the public-facing amenities in the broader development. A current athletic club operated by Central Bethany has served as a model for the future mixed-use project.
Mixed-use projects in senior living have started to emerge in which developers look to blend luxury and hospitality elements combined with public-facing amenities like retail shops and restaurants.
This plays into a similar trend seen in recent years as senior living operators engage in projects that include intergenerational components, including university-based senior living communities integrating into collegiate life and independent living communities being built with intergenerational-specific programming to foster social connections and grow lifestyle offerings beyond a community’s four walls.
The second phase of construction will include the addition of senior living and an athletic club, with the senior living component including a six-story senior living center on a 200,000 square-foot property with over 180 independent living, assisted living and memory care units. The athletic club calls for a 96,000 square-foot facility with amenities including a basketball court, indoor pool, locker rooms, tennis courts, pickleball courts and a weight room.
Intergenerational developments can also be a vehicle to make housing more affordable for seniors and younger residents, while improving health and wellness outcomes for older adults. For example, California-based operator Eskaton has partnered with Mercy Housing to build and manage 100 apartments for affordable senior housing and multi-family living with intergenerational living a key element of the project’s development.
Other operators including Illinois-based Mather and Virginia-based Benchmark Senior Living have recently opened senior living communities within broader mixed-use developments, mirroring the trend of offering senior living at the heart of mixed-use development.
In the future, developers like RKm Development are plotting the next chapter of mixed-use senior living projects making the Hyas Point development a project to watch as a marker for what may be coming down the pike.
Ebenezer’s in-house co-op brand
While co-op senior living development remains but a fraction of overall new growth in 2024, the model could be indicative of the new and creative ways in which senior living operators are expanding their footprint.
Ebenezer, a Minnesota-based senior living provider, currently manages nearly 40 co-op locations. But the company in 2022 announced its first-ever in-house co-op brand with a new community, Estoria Lakeville. In 2024, the non-profit operator just now broke ground on the project.
Estoria Lakeville will include 19 floor plans to capture a range of living options for future residents. Amenities include athletic courts for bocce ball and pickleball, community gardens, fitness studio, golf simulator, pet green spaces, pub room, walking paths, and a yoga studio, according to details shared with SHN.
The Estoria Lakeville community is expected to open in late 2025 and includes 89 member-owned homes with multiple floor plans and is a “brainchild” of a partnership among Ebenezer, Frana Companies and RSP Architects.
The community is the first co-op developed solely by the organization, and builds on plans to expand co-op growth, as first reported by SHN in 2022.
Ebenezer is also in the midst of developing a second co-op community known as Estoria of Oak Marsh, while also being involved in the ongoing development of The American Cooperative on Lake Phalen in a suburb of Maplewood, Minnesota.
Co-op senior living affords residents a stake in how the community is managed akin to a traditional homeowners association with an elected board to vote on operations and management. While the model is still limited only to a few states, it has grown slowly over the years. The model also weathered the pandemic’s early challenges.
Ebenezer’s journey deeper into the world of senior living co-ops could provide a model for other companies to undertake similar projects. At the same time, the organization also is expanding a burgeoning in-house growth line with implications for the future. . For this reason, Estoria Lakeville is a project to watch.
Erickson Senior Living, the company behind sprawling CCRC campuses across the country, is in the process of developing its first “vertical” community in Bethesda Maryland.
The project, known as The Grandview, is coming together at the site of the former home of Marriott International Headquarters. Although the property at the site was a Senior Housing News project to watch in 2021, its latest iteration and plans have evolved in the time since and now offer a glimpse into Erickson’s next chapter. That makes it worth another look years after its official debut.
The Grandview via Erickson Senior LivingAccording to Scott Gensler, senior vice president of real estate acquisition at Erickson Senior Living, The project allows the company to bring the “in-demand” lifestyle seen at its CCRCs to a more urban location. The community is being specifically designed for active seniors aged 62 and up.
“Our company places an emphasis on listening to the changing needs of residents and prospects.” Gensler told Senior Housing News. “As a result, we continue to evolve our offerings at current and new communities.”
Among the new offerings for The Grandview are outdoor dining, health and well-being offerings such as pickleball courts and meditation areas and programs that support resilience and mental health, according to Gensler.
Land for the community was purchased in December 2018 and is. Over the past six years, Erickson’s teams have been redeveloping the property to fit its incoming 247 independent living one- and two-bedroom apartment homes.
Amenities will include a state-of-the-art fitness center, all-season pool, dog park, salon and spa, spaces for learning, hobbies, and socializing and abundant green space in the adjoining urban park.
“The Grandview is a reflection of Erickson Senior Living’s commitment to adapting to meet the preferences of current and future residents,” he said.
Future development planned to include additional residences as well as a full continuum of healthcare for older adults, Gensler said.
High-rise trend finds new form in Nexus Cos. project
The high-rise senior living trend is not new, but a new project from Nexus Companies is bringing new life to it in the post-Covid era.
As planned, Developer Nexus Companies will bring 164 assisted living units and 29 memory care units to the Dallas area in a 20-floor property.
Vivante Turtle Creek via Nexus CompaniesThe community is also slated to have a restaurant-style dining room and an open demonstration kitchen along with a celebration room that features a bowling alley, arcade, photo booth and dining area.
Additional amenities include an indoor saline pool and Jacuzzi, game room, golf simulator, library, movie theater, beauty salon, chauffeured Mercedes transportation, art studio, fitness center, yoga and Pilates studio and a large ballroom for special events.
According to The Dallas Morning News, work on the project is anticipated to begin this October and wrap up in October 2026. The community is unique in that it is aiming for intergenerational ties with the outside world, including by establishing a bowling league.
It is slated for an early 2027 opening, and will serve as “probably the first of its kind in the Dallas metroplex,” HKS Global Senior Living Practice Director Siobhan Farvardin told the Dallas publication.
This is the company’s first high-rise project and the first community it has developed outside of California, and will remain in line with the other Vivante brand communities that offer upscale living. That, coupled with the community’s unique features, make it a project worth watching this year and beyond.
Headwaters Group’s debut active adult development
In Centennial, Colorado, a project is coming together that will serve as proof of concept for active adult company Headwaters Group.
That project is Aspendale Centennial, a 172-unit active adult community slated to be managed by Greystar. The property is slated to span more than 200,000 square feet in total and include amenities such an arts and crafts “makers room,” fitness facility, firepit and outdoor seating, gardening areas, Wi-Fi and a TV lounge and card room.
Aspendale Centennial / rendering courtesy Headwaters GroupHeadwaters, which is headed up by former Anthology Senior Living President Ben Burke, is targeting an “upper middle-market” demographic.
“If we can really refine our product to make it have the highest appeal to our target customers, we really think we can improve the lives of folks and not be burdened with the challenges and expenses of homeownership,” Burke told Senior Housing News earlier this year.
In general, active adult communities are far less expensive to rent on a monthly basis than nearby independent living communities. That gives them a leg up when it comes to the large and growing middle-market demographic aging into senior living in the years to come.
And with a national penetration rate across the U.S. of just 0.5% among households age 65 to 84, according to NIC MAP Vision, there is much more room for active adult companies to grow in the years to come.
“Active adult is as attractive as it’s ever been,” Burke told SHN earlier in September. “The fundamentals related to demand, supply, absorption, and rent growth continue to be strong.”
As companies like Headwaters Group grow and evolve their plans in the years to come, their trials and tribulations will no doubt help shape the face of the burgeoning active adult product type. And that makes Headwaters Group’s first community a project to watch, especially as an indication of what is to come next.
SHN Reporter Andrew Christman and Senior Editor Tim Regan also contributed reporting and writing to this story
