Adult communities make it easy for residents to keep busy lifestyles
When someone is shopping for a place to spend their active retirement years, often the amenities become more important than the house, townhouse or condominium itself.
Of course a prospective buyer wants to purchase a home where they will be comfortable and probably enjoy a first-floor master suite and many popular items like a comfortable family room, gourmet kitchen and garage space for their cars.
But what they can do for fun without going too far becomes the big question when people are contemplating being retired or cutting down to part-time work.
“Amenities have been very important in 55 and over communities for a long time,” said Judy Julison, national director of lifestyle operations for Del Webb. “But today’s Del Webb residents are far more active than they were when we started our communities in the 1960s.”
“Today our residents recognize the benefits of staying fit so there is a lot of demand for our health and wellness programs and fitness centers. Seventy-three percent regularly work out. That is why we incorporate state of the art flexibility, cardio balance and strength training into our programming,” Julison explained. “Our aim is to enhance our residents’ quality and length of life.”
Del Webb’s larger communities, like Sun City Huntley, have wellness centers which work with major health organizations and provide whirlpools, massages, indoor tracks, aerobics rooms, wireless cafes and more. They also offer fun classes like ethnic dance classes and classes keyed off popular television shows like Dancing with the Stars and The Biggest Loser. Outdoors, virtually all Del Webb communities offer tennis courts, bocce courts, walking trails, parks with playgrounds for grandchildren to enjoy, dog parks, garden plots and putting greens.
Golf courses, like the one in Huntley, are offered in some communities, too. And outdoor adventure programming like biking, hiking, kayaking and even geocaching and hot air ballooning has become popular in some areas of the country among the 55-and-over crowd.
“We are always looking for opportunities to make working out more fun and engaging,” Julison said.
Del Webb also offers many opportunities for residents to remain socially and intellectually engaged through group trips for general tourism, service and even ecotourism; educational classes in conjunction with local universities; and social networking through the computer.
Del Webb currently has four active communities in the Chicago area: Sun City Huntley, Shorewood Glen in Shorewood, Edgewater in Elgin and Grand Dominion in Mundelein.
D.R. Horton also offers communities that are full of amenities that appeal to those 55 and over. Carillon Club in Naperville, Carillon at Cambridge Lakes in Pingree Grove and Carillon at Stonegate in Aurora all offer a wide range of facilities and planned activities.
“Research has shown that baby boomers will maintain their fitness regime because it has just become a part of their lifestyle,” explained Chris Naatz, vice president of sales for D.R. Horton. “That is why many buyers are drawn to the Carillon communities because of our indoor pools. Swimming is a great form of fitness for older adults. It is the only sport that you can carry on through your entire life and there is also a great opportunity for social interaction.”
The various Carillon communities also offer fitness centers, craft rooms, walking trails, tennis and bocce courts, outdoor pools, billiard rooms, card rooms and many special interest clubs.
“Bocce has become incredibly popular and we see lots of people using our walking trails, even forming walking clubs and initiating events for charities,” Naatz said. “And during the winter months activities like Wii bowling have become very popular, too. That is great for getting people up and moving.”
Interestingly, computer rooms, which were once so important in active adult communities are no longer getting much use, Naatz admitted. Today, most residents have their own computers and Internet access in their homes and they routinely spend time on the computer in the privacy of their own homes.
Bowes Creek Country Club in Elgin, a master-planned community developed by Toll Brothers, has a gated 55-plus community within it. Active adults there enjoy a resort-like lifestyle with year-round recreational opportunities in and around its 9,000-square-foot private clubhouse.
Residents enjoy a wide array of amenities from card rooms to billiard rooms, a library and media room, fitness center, aerobics studio, tennis courts, bocce ball courts, walking trails, outdoor heated pool and a putting green, according to Marc Taft, senior project manager for Toll Brothers.
“There is always a social event going on there, with lots of off-site events planned, too, like trips to shows downtown. And bocce is very popular. The residents are so hard-core that they have installed lights so they can play at night and have started leagues and tournaments,” Taft explained.
In addition to their own private clubhouse, residents of the 55-plus community have access to the 18-hole Bowes Creek Golf Course, which is owned and run by the Elgin Park District. It has its own clubhouse featuring a pro shop, locker rooms, banquet and dining facilities, 150-foot patio and Porter’s Pub, an English-style pub that is open during the golf season.
Instead of charging standard golf fees, the club offers a “member for a day” fee, as well as yearly memberships. “Members for a day” enjoy unlimited golf with a cart and full use of the facility for that day.
Jim and Pat Kehoe moved to Bowes Creek from the Edison Park area of Chicago in June 2009 when they retired; he worked with the Chicago Fire Department and she was a crossing guard with the Chicago Police Department.
“Neither of us are professional golfers, but we love that golf course. It is beautiful, fabulous and breathtaking and lots of fun to play,” said Jim. He now plays the course about five times per week during the spring, summer and fall and Pat is taking lessons and has joined a ladies league. The couple even bought their own golf cart which they house in their extended garage. The cart is fire engine red, of course.
Avid golfer Bill Beckmann said the golf course was his primary reason for purchasing at Bowes Creek.
“From the beginning, it looked like a spectacular natural layout on paper and now has exceeded all my expectations,” Beckmann said. Now he comes home from work, grabs his cart and clubs and plays six holes as his way to unwind after a day at the office.
Not all communities that appeal to empty-nesters have chosen to include such lavish amenities. Others have chosen more passive accoutrements.
Meadow Ridge in Northbrook, for instance, is a gated community targeted to people who are looking for a maintenance-free lifestyle and a secure, gated community. Many are snow birds who spend the winter months in Florida or Arizona and they want to know that their home here is safe, according to Shannon Gibson-Giampa, sales and marketing director for KZF Development.
Within Meadow Ridge KZF has chosen to include two man-made ponds, scenic, constantly moving waterways that wind through the community and a lovely gazebo where residents often gather to have drinks, watch the sun set and to enjoy their view of the breathtaking Techny Towers church, Gibson-Giampa said.
There are also walking and biking paths that circle the community’s 40-acre campus and connect to trails running throughout Northbrook and the North Shore. In addition, the Five Seasons Tennis and Country Club is only half a block from the community and shopping is also within walking distance at the Willow Festival Shopping Center.
Those shopping for an active adult community who want a condominium and prefer a more urban lifestyle can find that at Belle Plaine Commons in Chicago. It is part of the North Center Senior Campus which recently received national recognition as one of four winners of a Livable Communities Award from the AARP (AARP) and the National Association of Home Builders.
Belle Plaine Commons is the condominium component of the large North Center community which also features two buildings of affordable senior apartments. Each of the three buildings offer various amenities including community rooms, libraries, fitness centers and salons. And all of the buildings open onto a beautifully-landscaped central half-acre park. There is also a smaller park and garden at the corner of the property. Both parks feature beautifully tiered fountains imported from Europe and walkways.
In addition, there is a centrally located senior center in one of the apartment buildings which is operated by the city of Chicago and Catholic Charities and it offers concerts, lectures, dance lessons, wellness education, massages, art and computer classes and a personal trainer. The center’s outdoor patio also serves as a gathering place for socializing, according to Rena Appel, development coordinator for North Center Associates, Belle Plaine’s developer.
North Center aims to offer housing for low, moderate and high income people, 55 and over.
“It is an idyllic project,” said Appel. “People from all walks of life socialize together because once you are in the park with your dog or in the senior center, no one knows where you live. People from all of the buildings interact in knitting groups, men’s groups, movie nights and so forth. It is really neat to watch people reaching out to each other.”
Belle Plaine Commons and the entire North Center campus is close to public transportation, shopping and restaurants which is ideal for those who enjoy city life.