Seniors shop for comfort in new homesState's retirement market huge, says housing expert

By LEE ANN O'NEAL , The Tennessean

When 91-year-old Ernest Backus moved to Tennessee from Ohio in 1994, he sought a home tailor-made for an older resident.

His two-bedroom condo in the southeast Nashville community of Lenox Village has wide door frames to accommodate wheelchairs, electric outlets placed higher on walls, for people with back problems, and a one-floor design.

"That's the big thing," Backus said. "My wife had health problems. Going up and down those steps was too much for her."

The demand for homes with senior-friendly amenities is expected to grow dramatically as the number of Tennessee residents who are 55 and older rapidly grows in the coming decades.
In 2000, 1.2 million Tennessee residents were 55 or older. That number is projected to rise to 2.2 million by 2030, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

If that holds true, the number of 55-and-older residents will grow more than twice as fast as the state's population as a whole.

"The single biggest demographic change that's taking place right in our midst is the retirement market. It's huge," said Edsel Charles, president of the Brentwood-based housing research firm MarketGraphics.

And many older Tennesseans are shunning age-restricted communities, opting instead to live in communities with people of all ages. But often, they want their homes adapted to fit the needs of older residents.

That was the case with Gail and Bobby Connelly.

Last year, they moved to Lenox Village after searching for a home where there would be no yard work and no stairs to climb.

"It just got the best of me, going up and down steps," Gail Connelly said of the basement-area laundry room in their previous home.

They never considered moving to an age-restricted development.

"We would be very bored in an old retirement community," said Gail Connelly, 68. "We like the young people and the middle-aged people. I don't want to see old people all the time."

For others, the shared experience of living near other seniors is comforting.

"There are several in here who are widows," said Frieda Rhodes, who lives in the 55-and-older Reid Hill Commons subdivision in Franklin. "We have a camaraderie, being the same age. We've all had our families."

She likes the quiet of her community. There are no children playing in the backyard and no teenagers driving fast through the neighborhood.

Subdivisions like Reid Hill Commons, with federally permitted age restrictions, are cropping up throughout the Midstate.

There's the 1,069-home Lake Providence development that opened last fall in Mt. Juliet. There's also a 3,000-home development in the planning stages for further east in Wilson County, said Chris Ryan, Tennessee division president for Pulte Homes.

In her one-floor home, Rhodes can walk from her garage to her patio without taking a step up or down. The door handles are lever-style instead of knobs, the hallways are wide and the bathroom has handrails.

"I don't have any knee problems, but that can crop up anytime," Rhodes said.