The senior communities of today are not like those of years past. Many today offer the amenities and styling of features found in hotels and resorts. Some of the trends we are seeing in 2019:
1. Services and amenities integrate 55+ residents with the surrounding community. As active seniors looking for independent and assisted living gravitate to urban centers to take advantage of restaurants, shops, entertainment, and healthcare, there’s a growing emphasis on providing amenities that draw in the public to help residents feel engaged with their neighbors. In some centers the salon is open to—and popular with—the public, and various rooms may be rented out for functions.
2. Senior living communities will create more outdoor amenity destinations. Outdoor spaces should be an integral part of activity programming, even in hot climates. An outdoor theater with lawn chairs, where residents can watch a movie and have dinner and cocktails; a greenhouse with a gardening club; or dining spaces where residents can cook for themselves and host parties—spaces like these enliven the 55+ residential experience.
3. Senior living residential style will be more eclectic. Seniors are ready for variety in furnishings and finishes, more layering of patterns.
4. Senior living communities are taking advantage of open floor plans. It used to be that every activity needed its own room, which sat empty most of the day, that’s changed. The movie room can also serve as the chapel, the lecture hall, a meeting room, or a training room. The library has become more like a Starbucks with magazines.
5. Lighter wood tones are gaining popularity in furnishings and millwork. Now it’s more mid-tones and browns—natural walnut, birch, ash, and natural rift-cut oak—for cabinetry mill-work in reception desks, dining areas, and individual apartment kitchens.