The Art of Repurposing Existing Buildings into Senior Housing
Seeking Senior Housing Solutions, More Communities are Turning to Repurposing
By Ward Isaacson, AIA
Principal / Pope Architects
The drastic downturn in the economy in the last couple of years has led to the demise of multitudes of retail centers, shopping malls, hotels, apartment buildings, office towers, schools, and even churches. As unfortunate as this has been, it has opened up many potential options to replace or retrofit vacant properties into senior housing or centers for senior housing services.
We as architects have seen an unprecedented amount of developers and care providers looking to repurpose projects. This is largely due to the difficulty in financing new “ground up” projects and the undeniable demographics driving the need for senior housing and services. Even new projects which have been designed and put on the shelf due to lack of financing are finding new life as senior related projects.
While the cost of retrofitting a school or hotel into an accessible environment appropriate for seniors is often far more than developers typically anticipate, it is still a viable financial model to explore. This is especially true for those projects which serve lower income seniors in need of congregate housing and services.
While churches, for example, are typically not salvageable as a viable repurpose into senior housing, the growing need for senior community centers, adult day programs, home health offices, kitchens providing meals on wheels programs, and PACE programs are viable repurposing options. These sites are also attractive since they are often within close proximity to other senior needs and services such as retail, healthcare, and public parks.
Follow this link to an interesting article by Karen Stabiner of the New York Times regarding new lives for dead shopping malls. Changing demographics are moving community planning into new areas of thinking and innovation.
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