With a booming economy and employment in the Baton Rouge area at an all-time high, residential construction in the region has soared, with the number of new residential building permits reflecting the demand for new housing in the area.
Yet while attention focuses on housing for a growing workforce, construction and development are also booming for another category of resident: seniors. In particular, several high-end developments are in the works in the Baton Rouge market, reflecting a national trend to provide residences tailored to the aging baby boomer market.
With wine lockers, gaming centers and art studios, these aren’t your typical independent and assisted living facilities for seniors. In a feature from the current issue, Business Report highlights a number of recently announced projects and spoke with the developers to find out why they’re building them in Baton Rouge.
“Nationally, as everyone knows, there’s a significant aging population, which is one reason a lot of markets are seeing a big push for senior-living developments,” says Harrison Young, owner of Cardinal Ventures, which is co-developing The Blake at The Grove with CR Properties. “Coupled with that, the baby boom generation has a lot of wealth and high expectations. With this need and demand, the national trend is to bring new, nicer projects to the market.”
About 80% of residents in these new developments will come from the Baton Rouge region. However, some will move to the area from other parts of the country as their adult children who live and work in Baton Rouge want their aging parents and other family members to be closer to them.
Much of the existing inventory of senior housing was built 20 to 25 years ago and is starting to show its age, says Steve Hicks, chairman and CEO of Provident Resources Group, which is developing Provident Village at Americana in Zachary.
“More facilities are being added because the existing inventory is outdated and does not meet the demands of today’s consumer of senior living services,” Hicks says. “East Baton Rouge Parish post-Katrina has had a huge growth in population relative to where we should be had greater New Orleans not have been devastated by Katrina. The entire I-10/I-12 corridor is a huge growth area, and that growth is at all levels of income and across all different age groups. Just as demand for other services has risen, the demand for quality senior care has risen.”
The higher-end, upscale developments reflect baby boomers’ attitudes, expectations and lifestyles. For example, baby boomers tend to be more active than their parents, so they want health and fitness to feature in any residential development targeting them—even in their golden years.
Read the full feature, which further highlights projects including The Blake at The Grove, as well as Provident Village at Americana, Avanti at Highland and Garden View at Jones Creek. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
