Experience Senior Living is making strides in reaching younger, more active older adults as the company’s development pipeline continues to grow with new projects planned.
The Denver-based senior living provider’s “core thesis” lies in developing new communities in an era of lagging development. But if you ask President Phill Barklow, today’s senior living customer has changed, and operators like Experience are shifting as a result.
Experience designs communities to attract older adults in their mid-70s or younger by emphasizing lifestyle, choice, independence and care quality.
In August, Experience opened a new community in Lone Tree, Colorado as part of the company’s Reserve Collection of communities. A few months later and the community’s independent living segment is 65% pre-leased with an average resident age of 75. Some residents in their 60s are also making plans to move in, Barklow said.
“The operator that wins in senior housing now is going to be the one that attracts the best talent and is able to meet the needs of customers today and that’s nearly impossible to do in some older, more outdated assets,” Barklow said. “Our average age is 75 and, quite frankly, it’s getting younger.”
Today, Experience Senior Living operates 14 communities with multiple projects under development.
Attracting younger older adults
In 2025, Experience took over management of nine assets that were developed through the development wing of its parent company, NexCore Group.
Through the undertaking of standing up a management company following the launch a few years ago, Barklow said the operator “learned a lot about what works for residents and team members.”
To reach new customers, Experience has established multiple brands of communities across varying price points with varying amenities. They include The Reserve, Gallery, Sancerre, The Crossings and Activ55.
The company also took on management of five additional communities under its platform while continuing on five different construction projects for additional communities in the future.
Experience also made some leadership changes. In 2024, the company hired Lisa Thompson as senior vice president of operations before promoting her to chief operating officer this year. She brings over 25 years of senior living experience to the COO role having spent 18 years with Sunrise Senior Living in various capacities, most senior of which was as the senior vice president of operations.
By “firming up” the company’s existing senior living operations and branding efforts, Barklow said Experience leaders can now focus on the company’s development pipeline, which Barklow estimated could reach as high as $1 billion to $2 billion over the next three or four years.
“We’re going to continue to grow organically through our new development pipeline right now,” Barklow said.
‘Scratching and clawing’ to start development
Experience Senior Living’s current growth pipeline includes a range of new developments. Some of those projects are nearing the end of construction or just starting it, while others are still in design and planning phases.
But getting the pipeline of projects started was not an easy feat. In 2023, when the company was seeking financing for The Gallery at Fort Collins community, NexCore was “scratching and clawing” to find the right capital partners, according to NexCore Chief Investment Officer Michael Ray.
“This momentum really began at the end of 2023 when we closed on the capitalization of our Fort Collins development,” Ray said. “It’s that conviction, resilience and persistence to keep our heads down and believe in the thesis and put ourselves in position to succeed.”
The Gallery at Fort Collins will open later this year, with the company also breaking ground on four projects with an annualized basis cost of $400 million to $600 million annually through 2027, Ray estimated.
In an era of operators seeking value-add acquisitions well below replacement costs, Barklow and Ray both said Experience and NexCore would continue to seek ground-up development to fit a purpose-built senior living model geared for more active older adults.
“This is in response to the evolving consumer preferences and expectations of the end user in mind,” Barklow said.
Some of Experience’s new projects are urban in-fill projects that can allow for connecting older adults to their local communities, offering the ability to live in walkable areas with shops and dining close by.
“This is a different clientele and it’s a different level of having the luxury of choices with our multi-brand approach,” Barklow said, referencing the company’s Gallery communities and Reserve Collection communities.
This intentional focus on ground-up development through a multi-brand approach shows the inherent value proposition that vertically-integrated, owner-operator dynamics can bring to bear, Ray added, through a “hospitality mindset” and “facilitating luxury of choice” for older adults considering senior living.
Prior to opening the Lone Tree community, Experience opened The Gallery at Naples in the Hacienda Lakes neighborhood of Naples, Florida earlier this year. Another Experience community, The Gallery of Tampa in Florida, is about halfway completed, Barklow said. The Gallery at Fort Collins is under construction and is slated to open by the end of the year.
Experience last year announced plans to enter the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. markets, with construction underway for The Gallery at Roland Park in Maryland with a leasing center set to open before the end of this year. Another Baltimore area project, The Reserve at Strathmore Square in North Bethesda, Maryland is scheduled to break ground later this year.
The company’s Reserve at Falls Church community in Falls Church, Virginia is currently under construction with work “just about to go vertical” on the build with a leasing center open with a waiting list of 500 people.
Back in Colorado, Experience is also preparing to build another Reserve Collection community “in the Denver metro area” that is scheduled to break ground this fall, Barklow said. Other plans for future projects out west include a Gallery brand community in the Seattle metro area, Barklow said.
Barklow said Experience and NexCore’s relationship and expertise in development in entering new markets, understanding the gaps and demand and executing were strengths in an extremely tough development climate.
“If we were a niche developer-operator, it wouldn’t work in this market. That’s not what consumers want,” Barklow said. “That approach has enabled us to succeed now and going forward, and we won’t change it. None of our buildings are alike.”
Balancing operations and new growth
Operators have spent recent years aiming for occupancy gains and improving margins. Experience’s story is not much different, with the company working to stabilize its existing portfolio of 14 communities, many of which have reached stabilized occupancy levels and higher , Barklow said.
For example, the company took on management of a Midwest property that was below 40% occupancy. Today that same community now sits at 98% occupancy. To improve staffing dynamics across its communities, Experience established an internal promotions pipeline of talented folks able to hone their skills in a Gallery community before being promoted to work in expanded roles at Reserve communities.
As the company grows, Barklow said Experience was now starting to reap the benefits of having multiple communities in a regional market to build economies of scale and provide new resources between properties.
“Now it’s just making sure that we have the right players in the right seat on the bus in every single one of our communities,” Barklow said. “We can be a better employer because we can purchase things better, add benefits and we’re continuing to produce better outcomes for our staff.”
This effort to improve staffing consistency across communities has been the base for which Experience has been able to grow organically with new development, Barklow said.
Looking ahead, Barklow believes senior living operators sitting on the sidelines waiting for better development conditions “are going to kick themselves” about missing opportunities for capitalizing on current demand and aging demographics.
“Even if everyone were developing today, we still couldn’t keep up with demand. Some communities will simply age out and won’t be appropriate for the seniors of the future. That’s why we’re reaching those seniors now—meeting their needs, wants, and desires today.”
