Over Over 55 0
Curmudgeonly as I can be, I have never felt a desire to live surrounded only by other old curmudgeons. I want there to be some young curmudgeons also.
So I have never understood the market for “over 55” developments.
Apparently, not many other persons did also.
“It’s dead,” said Gary Werner, a Chesapeake developer who built one age-restricted project. “It’s like something just turned the spigot off completely. It’s not even a drip.”
As a result, developers are returning to planning boards and city councils for permission to scrap age restrictions on approved projects. Hundreds of approved units in Chesapeake and Suffolk have been converted to regular projects, and more requests are likely on the way.
So who did like the idea? From the same story (emphasis added):
Planning boards loved the quasi-retirement communities aimed at baby boomers for their promise of increasing the tax base without adding kids to burgeoning schools and cars to crowded roads.
Many large projects were looked on favorably – and approved – if they included some units restricted to people 55 and over. Images of silver-haired “active adults” riding bikes and hugging grandchildren in front of tidy homes were common in real-estate marketing material.
