Seniors Housing Business is the magazine that helps you navigate the evolution of the seniors housing industry.
Issue link: https://seniorshousingbusiness.epubxp.com/i/799407
www.seniorshousingbusiness.com 49 February/March 2017 n Seniors Housing Business 162 Years Weitz Has Been Operating 50+ Years Weitz Has Built Senior Living Communities Learn more at www.weitz.com/senior-living 12% Current U.S. Population of People Age 65+ 25% People Age 65+ in the U.S. by 2032 THE WEITZ COMPANY Understands the Challenges Faced in Senior Living Now and for the Future ties like Celebration, seniors hous- ing enjoys a rare, privileged posi- tion of being in such high demand that residents don't just accept the development, they encourage it. Several factors are driving demand for seniors housing at Celebration, according to Big Rock Partners. The first factor is pent-up demand from Celebration's 10,000 residents who are aging in place, who love the community and want to stay, plus younger resi- dents who want to relocate their aging parents nearby. Other factors include the pres- ence of a major hospital and numerous golf course communi- ties on the west side of Orlando, an area where Ackerman says there currently is no seniors housing. When Disney established Cel- ebration as a planned unit devel- opment (PUD), seniors housing was not a component. As the com- munity matured, the PUD was amended to provide for this use. "The people who live there went to Disney and asked them to find a developer like us," says Acker- man. "Residents were the driving force because they didn't want to move from the community. Disney had never thought about seniors housing back in the 1990s. Now, developers are starting to think longer term when they build huge communities." There is an added incentive in Celebration, points out Ackerman. If more traditional residences were to be built, the community might feel compelled to build another school. "Going forward, the community will add more single-family homes and apartments," predicts Acker- man. "Having seniors housing as a component takes some of the pres- sure off the need and timetable for new schools." Ackerman adds that seniors housing generates tax revenue without significantly altering a city's infrastructure. "People are very receptive to seniors housing. When you have the city wanting it because of the lack of school impact and the low impact in general for traffic and parking, it just makes it a lot easier. It's hard enough to do this business with- out having to deal with fights with the community." When it comes to zoning laws, seniors housing lives on a wild frontier. Unless developers build age-restricted housing, which is zoned just as an apartment build- ing would be, they need to obtain the necessary municipal approv- als before the project can move forward. Because assisted living and skilled nursing communities are not listed among commercial uses in local laws, developers typi- cally are required to file for a spe- cial use variance for a commercial property. "Even if you find a site, rezoning for any purpose is always a dif- ficult process — and particularly challenging if there's community opposition," says Ackerman. "Seniors housing is generally welcomed by communities since it doesn't put pressure on roads or schools," continues Ackerman. "The fact that there's almost no community opposition when it comes to senior housing is one of the reasons I chose this business." Located about five miles northwest of downtown Austin, Belmont Village Senior Living West Lake Hills was built in a neighborhood that takes its trees seriously. To win the community's support, development teams tagged every tree and saved as many as possible.