REAL ESTATE NEWS

Creating flexible indoor-to-outdoor spaces is the top seniors housing design trend in California as developers move to incorporate the grounds surrounding senior communities into an extension of the living space.

Casey Case, president of Gates Studio in Walnut Creek, California, told GlobeSt.com that senior living community design is similar to apartment and condominium properties, but with distinct overlays.

"One thing we consistently look for is to accommodate active seniors who likely had a single-family home and want some of the spaciousness and outdoor access they previously had," Case said.

He said that creating a dining area with an adjacent patio for meals, reading, relaxing or spending time with friends and family, is at the top of the list of desires.

"We want the nearby grounds to not just be a yard," Case said, "so we're increasingly making landscape plans with looping paths for taking walks and small seating areas for people to take their coffee and morning paper. Residents often form game and reading groups, so we always want to have spaces for four to eight people to gather."

Case said the designs appeal more to crafts and hobbies, such as gardening or maker spaces.

Another trend is accommodating pets.

"This can be tricky because not everyone has pets," Case said. "The boom in dog and cat adoption across the U.S. is also true for older adults, so we're adding more enclosed dog-walk areas and wider, pet-friendly paths."

Other design enhancements include chairs, benches and outdoor furniture that accommodate all ages, such as adding more handles and rails and paths or pavement that accommodate walkers, wheelchairs, canes, etc.

Case said an outgoing feature causing debate is outdoor fitness stations, though some larger properties still want to include them.

Construction Costs on the Rise

Meanwhile, costs are rising for housing and commercial construction across the board, Case said.

"For senior living communities, there is also a higher degree of specialized design that often requires unusual or innovative products," he said. "Also, the construction may require higher-skilled craft to meet quality and regulatory requirements, so labor costs can be a concern.

The Producer Price Index (PPI) for materials and services used in commercial nonresidential (not single-family-home) construction rose 3.6 percent over the past 12 months, the largest year-over-year increase since January 2023. Some raw materials were up as much as 40%.

State Legislation Addresses Seniors Communities

The California legislature continues to acknowledge the need for senior housing production by adopting a variety of state housing laws at a breakneck pace, according to attorney Chelsea Maclean, partner at Holland & Knight in San Francisco.

Just last year, AB 2694 by Assembly Member Ward was adopted "to make it crystal clear that 'residential care facilities for the elderly' qualify under the state density bonus law, allowing those projects to obtain benefits such as density bonuses, flexibility with respect to development standards, and parking reductions," Maclean told GlobeSt.com.

According to the bill's author, the law will help address the need for senior housing, as "our state is facing a silver tsunami as our population ages, creating a demand for senior housing that outpaces supply."

Maclean said such projects can also qualify for myriad other housing laws, like the Housing Accountability Act, which limits a local jurisdiction's ability to deny a project or to impose a condition that the project be developed at a lower density.

"Together, these laws provide a blanket of protection that has drastically changed how senior housing projects are processed in California," Maclean said.

Source: GlobeSt/ALM