Seniors Housing Business is the magazine that helps you navigate the evolution of the seniors housing industry.
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34 www.seniorshousingbusiness.com Seniors Housing Business n February/March 2017 By Bendix Anderson The groundbreaking ceremony for the Spring Garden School, a new seniors housing commu- nity under construction in North Philadelphia, was a little like a class reunion. The school was originally built in the 1920s but has been vacant for four decades. This August, the building will reopen as a 37-unit affordable housing community for seniors. More than a dozen seniors came to celebrate the groundbreaking. "Many residents in the community had attended that school," says Gloribel Cruz, vice president at TD Bank, which invested in the redevelopment. Historic school buildings redeveloped into seniors housing are often nourished by long relationships with their communities. These landmark structures have plenty of people who want redevelopment to succeed, including pro- spective residents and local officials. These redevelopments also demonstrate how elderly residents benefit by living near services and amenities that help seniors stay plugged in. However, fixing up historic buildings always presents challenges. Old schools, which often come with gymnasiums and auditoriums, are no exceptions. These developments are becoming more common as affordable housing developers now eagerly look for opportunities. "There is a supply of old schools available," explains Jeffrey Woda, principal at The Woda Group, Inc., an affordable housing developer based in Westerville, Ohio. As school districts change, outdated schools close and become available for redevelopment. Woda has com- pleted three developments that transformed old schools into affordable seniors housing and is working on four more. Staying true to their schools Seniors have already signed nearly a dozen leases for the 37 affordable senior apartments at the Spring Garden School. The whole com- munity will be targeted toward low-income military veterans age 55 and older, and 12 of the apartments will be reserved for homeless military veterans. "It should be full by New Year's Day," says David Cleghorn, senior vice president of real estate development for HELP USA, based in New York City. Part of community's connection to an old school comes from the memories of the gradu- ating classes of yesteryear. That's the case at the Jackie Robinson Middle School, which was built in 1932 in Milwaukee, Wis., and has been redeveloped as Sherman Park Senior Living. "About one-third of the seniors either went to the school or taught there," says Ted Mat- kom, Wisconsin market president for Gorman & Co. Inc., an affordable housing developer based in Oregon, Wis. The longstanding ties create a built-in sense of community for seniors. "It certainly gives them a sense of pride to live in a building that they went to school in years before," says Woda. Redeveloped schools are also often located in places that help seniors stay connected. "These schools tend to be near hubs of activity," says Woda. They are often surrounded by residen- tial areas the schools were created to serve and are near the service and transportation options of a downtown or commercial area. That's perfect for a senior community. "Seniors who have access to transit, health- care services and community amenities improve their quality of life — usually having a direct impact on their overall health and lon- gevity," says Eileen Fitzgerald, CEO of Stew- ards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF), a nonprofit collaborative of leading housing providers based in Washington, D.C. That's especially true for the seniors who live in affordable housing. "The median income of a senior in a SAHF member property is just under $13,000," says Fitzgerald. "So, these seniors often don't even have the resources to own and maintain a car, History, Location Tie Former Schools to Neighborhoods n Development Adaptive reuse projects in prime locations enable affordable housing developers to maximize services for seniors. The former Jackie Robinson Middle School in Milwaukee was built in 1932. Wisconsin-based affordable housing developer Gorman & Co. Inc. recently redeveloped the property into Sherman Park Senior Living.