WestClay Will Offer a Way to Retire in Style
Costs: $165,000 to $250,000, Plus a Monthly Fee
By Bruce C. Smith
CARMEL, Ind.(July 30, 2005) -- A $50 million retirement community, believed to be the largest new development for seniors in the metro area in many years, will be built within the upscale Village of WestClay in Carmel starting next year.
The Stratford at WestClay, developers say, will offer a country-club lifestyle with large apartments and other services geared to the demands-and checkbooks of well-to-do seniors in the 78- to 82-year-old range.
Entry fees will range from $165,000 for apartments in a 350,000-squarefoot main building to $250,000 for street-level cottage units. Eighty percent of a unit's value will be refunded when a resident dies.
In addition to the entry charge, residents will pay monthly fees of about $2,000 in the apartments and $2,500 in the cottages.
Those costs are considered by retirement industry experts to be higher than average for the Indianapolis metro area but relatively low nationally for such developments.
The Stratford reflects a trend toward larger apartments up to 2,200square-foot penthouses that retirees here and nationwide are seeking.
“There's a huge demand (for upscale retirement communities) because 10,000 people are turning 55 every day in this country,” said George Sweet, developer of the Village of WestClay. The 700-acre Village mixes several types of housing and businesses, ranging from $100,000 condos to $2 million homes.
The Stratford will cover 8.5 acres in the Village, on the west side of Towne Road, near sports fields and a new retail district.
St. Louis-based Stratford Cos., formerly St. Andrew's Consulting Services, will build and operate the new center. The company has been in operation for many years, designing and building retirement centers nationwide.
“Taking our years of experience, we've learned that seniors now want more upgrades and larger units," said Bruce Russell, president and chief executive of Stratford. "We've gone from the Depression and World War II era, (when smaller efficiencies) were the style, to meeting larger expectations.”
The Stratford development has been designed to mesh with the 1900s architectural style of much of the Village of West Clay.
As a result, the main building will be a stately three-story brick structure of ornate Federalist design. It will include 118 independent-living apartments, 38 assisted-living apartments and 20 skilled nursing beds, plus such amenities as a dining room, swimming pool, community rooms with fireplaces and a library.
Forty bungalows with attached garages for seniors with cars will be in one story, cottage-style buildings.
Russell said the center fits with the neighborhood concept in the Village of WestClay. He envisions elderly members of WestClay families moving into the center and getting as much independence or care as they need, while remaining close to their relatives.
Jeff Chapman works for an Indianapolis advertising agency and lives in the Village of West Clay with four generations of his family. He said Friday that a retirement community within walking distance will mean peace of mind.
Chapman, his wife, Michele, and their three children live in one of the single-family homes in the Village, while his wife's aunt and grandmother live in another house in the development. “While her grandmother is 93, she is very active. But none of us knows what the future will bring, and it is nice to know this option is available,” he said.
“It is nice to know that all members of the family will remain in the same neighborhood, within walking distance. My grandmother lived Downtown in Indianapolis when the rest of our family was in Noblesville, so seeing her wasn't part of our daily lives,” Chapman said.
Stratford representatives expect residents of the retirement center to come from a wide area of Central Indiana, but particularly from the northern part of Indianapolis and Hamilton County.
“The demand for housing alternatives for seniors 72 years and older is rapidly growing throughout Central Indiana,” said Wendy S. Horn, Stratford's representative in Indianapolis.
“The 65-plus and 70-year-old population within 10 miles will increase by almost 22 percent by 2009,” she said.
U.S. census projections are similar, showing more than 170,000 people 65 or older living this year in the Indianapolis metro area, where the total population is more than 1.6 million. By 2010, the population over 65 is expected to be more than 187,000 of the total 1.75 million in the metro area.
Jim Leich. director of the Indiana Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, said several continuing-care and assisted-living centers operated by nonprofit agencies have expanded in recent years on the northern side of the Indianapolis area in response to that trend. Several privately owned, for-profit companies have built independent-living developments for seniors in Noblesville, Avon, Geist and other areas.
But all were smaller and few offered the spectrum of care that Stratford plans, partly because of the high cost of construction.
Most of the other facilities -- Hoosier Village Retirement Community, Marquette Manor, The Forum at the Crossing, Robin Run Village, Westminster Village, Summer Trace and others -- were built 15 to 20 years ago or more and have lower operating costs, said Stephen Durnin, executive director of The Forum.
“The picture has been pretty stable. . . and most of the independent-living buildings seem to remain pretty full,” he said, although there are some vacancies in buildings for assisted living.
“We've not seen such a major development here (recently), but on a national scale there has been a move to develop more independent living facilities.” he said.
Operators of retirement communities are recognizing the differences among people hitting 65, which was once viewed as an automatic retirement age.
“That 65-year-old statistic is misleading," Durnin said, "because with advances in health care, the recently retired are now typically very active. People often don't begin choosing a retirement move until much later, often because one of the spouses has had a health scare.”
The Traditional Neighborhood Development project opened in 2005 and by 2010 will house 1700 residences of varying types, expansive open space and 265,000 s.f. of mixed-use commercial space. The entry fee project will provide bungalows and one, two, and three bedroom and penthouse apartments in an exclusive Seniors Housing District. Stratford residents will enjoy the social life, activities and amenities within the seniors housing district and the Village of WestClay.
The Stratford is privately held and is controlled by four principals with significant experience in the development, operations and marketing and sales of seniors housing communities across the U.S. Its principals have developed, marketed, sold and operated 20 unique properties across the United States.
The Stratford Companies’ quiet build up has been done in partnership with financial partners such as The Starwood Capital Group. The company is pursuing neighborhood developments located in Midwest, Rocky Mountain and Mid-Atlantic states. Headquartered at 707 North 2nd Street, Suite 600, St. Louis, Missouri, Stratford also has offices in Denver, Nashville and Indianapolis. Principals in the firm include Bruce Russell, President and CEO, Betty Ette, President, Planning Group, Stevan Armstrong, President Construction Group, Ken Jaeger, CEO management affiliate, Morningstar Senior Living and Wendy Horn, President of Horn & Associates.
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