Consider these statistics: 50 percent of households 55+ have no retirement savings and nearly 40 percent of individuals aged 62 and older are projected to have financial assets of $25,000 or less over the next 20 years, according to the National Investment Center.
“And you combine that with the fact that the number of middle income seniors will increase to over 14 million residents by 2029, and in less than 10 years, there’s a need for a middle-market senior housing product of over 7 million households,” says Craig Kimmel, partner at RLPS Architects (Lancaster, Pa.). “That’s really frightening.”
Kimmel and Margaret Yu, designer at RLPS Architects, used these statistics to kick off a discussion on “Design Strategies to Meet the Needs of the Middle Market,” during Environments for Aging’s first Virtual Conference, held June 1 and 2. “Trying to respond to that need is what we’re spending a lot of time at the firm investing our efforts in as we start looking to the future and what that actually might be,” Kimmel says.
One thing is clear, he says. “[Middle market projects are] different than a product we create for a CCRC.” Specifically, he says project teams need to think differently about such elements as location, building elements, finishes and materials, and maximizing square footage to drive down costs without sacrificing the quality of the living environment. “It’s requires a lot of rigor.”
Sharing an example of a pocket neighborhood concept RLPS did for a community in South Carolina, Kimmel and Yu explained how the project team used a combination of indoor and outdoor spaces to maximize the living environment. The community features clusters of 10 attached cottages with front porches that share an outdoor courtyard and a community room, which includes a kitchen and outdoor patio.
“The product allows us to keep the footprint of the individual units smaller because of the community space,” Yu says.
Additionally, construction savings were realized by using repetitive bathrooms and kitchens in the community’s two unit options, a one-bedroom, 700-square-foot unit and a two-bedroom, 865-square-foot model, while that layout and interior finishes were used to help maximize daylight in the units, including a frosted glass-insert in the bedroom door to allow light further into the unit.
While looking for ways to maximize costs and efficiencies, Kimmel says its important to deliver environments that appeal to seniors’ tastes through strategic use of materials and amenity spaces. Yu noted that because many of these units are rentals, operators can offer a simple finish package with different color options to provide a sense of choice and customization. She added that there are several products on the market, including plastic laminate countertops or carpet and sheet vinyl flooring, that can be used to freshen up spaces without a big price tag.
Additional cost-saving strategies include minimizing the building shape, including reducing ins and outs and utilizing repetitive building elements such as flat or sloped roofs. During renovation projects it’s important to try not to relocate bathrooms or entry doors to reduce costly expenses related to rerouting plumbing or constructing new entries. Additionally, the speakers noted that it’s important for project teams to make sure efficiencies don’t drive up other construction costs.
For example, adding floors to a building to accommodate more units (and drive up revenue) can put a project into a different code category, which can result in eliminating the opportunity to do wood-frame construction or increase equipment costs for generators or sprinkler systems. “Taller isn’t always cheaper,” Kimmel says.
To appeal to seniors’ desire for more urban locations, Kimmel and Yu noted that there are opportunities for projects in existing, underutilized spaces, including former warehouses, retail and shopping center locations, and corporate campuses. However, Kimmel notes that there’s growing competition with millennials for urban rental housing.
“It becomes tough to find properties that are inexpensive enough to make middle-market viable.”
Utilizing such design approaches as repetition, scale, simplicity, and non-custom environments, can help deliver cost-effective approaches that are appealing to seniors. “You need to put a new set of glasses on when you look at this type of building product and be disciplined about everything you do,” Kimmel says.
Missed the live EFA Virtual Conference event? On-demand access to the conference, including 11 CEU sessions, is available at efamagazine.com/efa-virtual-conference.
