The 2000 Census confirmed what many already suspected: Westchester and the surrounding region is home to a disproportionate number of baby boomers and seniors. Despite a downturn economy, the new owners of the former Kings College property in Briarcliff Manor are confident their new retirement community will be a success when they break ground in 2011.
The Club at Briarcliff Manor, which closed on the purchase of the property for $300 million in June, plans Westchester”™s third continuing-care retirement community (CCRC). The closing came after developers received the certificate of authority from the state Department of Health.
Matthew Phillips, president and CEO of Integrated Development Group, is developing the 69-acre property in a joint venture with National Electrical Benefit Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based pension fund with more than $10 billion in assets.
Tours of the site were held on June 25 for prospective buyers. The Tudor-style development will offer 288 one- and two-bedroom independent living apartments in the upper village, ranging in size from 900 to 2,000 square feet; 24 townhomes and 13 free-standing villas with attached two-car garages. Sixty supportive-living residences will offer skilled nursing care on site.Â
Amenities will include a spa and salon, several dining venues, fitness center, heated indoor pool and whirlpool, outdoor tennis courts, multimedia business center and surround sound theater, along with a number of walking trails. The property will be patrolled by 24-hour security.
Entrance fees, which are 90 percent refundable, will start at $750,000, with monthly fees for amenities and services starting at $3,400. Services in its supported living center are not included in the monthly fees and will be charged at market rate; unlike other CCRCs, The Club at Briarcliff Manor is a for-profit enterprise.
For many who can afford the services continuing-care communities offer, it”™s an attractive alternative and one that ensures the least stress on its residents, who can receive assisted living care if needed and still return home without having to make the decision of either entering a nursing home or giving up their independence. The average age of a person buying into a CCRC is 75.
When completed and opened, The Club at Briarcliff Manor will be the fifth CCRC community in the Hudson Valley, joining Kendal on Hudson in Sleepy Hollow, Westchester Meadows in Valhalla, Glen Arden in Goshen and Woodland Pond in New Paltz. Although its contemporaries are nonprofits, all face the same challenges in today”™s real estate market: buyers ready to make the move but who can”™t find buyers for their current residences.Â
Dean Bender, speaking on behalf of the developers, said they hope real estate prices, which have begun to stabilize, will get the market moving again. Bender said Integrated Development Group and its DC partners are confident Westchester”™s market will be able to sustain the upscale retirement community.
With only 14 CCRCs in the state with price tags $250,000 and up, most aging residents are struggling to find affordable and market rate senior housing, which is at a premium throughout the region. While Gov. David Paterson and state Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins announced more than $1.4 million in funding for Westchester senior housing initiatives on July 7, much more is needed to meet the needs of the growing number of baby boomers, many who are taking care of their own parents.
Michael Burgess, director of the state”™s Office for the Aging, addressed the crisis eldercare is facing in the state in June, calling it the “worst since the Great Depression.” The agency”™s funding, drawn from both the federal and state coffers, is $242 million for the 2009-10 budgets, a reduction of nearly $14 million from the prior year.
Burgess urged municipalities to work together to make independent living easier for seniors who want to stay at home; within the county, several communities are working together to plan improvements that will make them more elder friendly, from sidewalk repair and curb cuts to bolder street signs.
Programs that were on the table were taken off, and many are facing reduction of funding or elimination. One program, however, Burgess was loathe to touch: New York Connects-Choices for Long Term Care. “The commitment to the counties remains intact, and the local implementation grants that were increased for the 2008-2009 contract year will remain unchanged.” New York Connects, which literally connects seniors and/or caregivers with direct access to programs they need to either live independently or to find services, is deemed essential by the NYSOA director.
For Westchester real estate brokers and developers, the key is to see the housing market moving again. That means banks must start swinging the pendulum of lending “in the other direction,” said Leah Caro, president of the Westchester-Putnam Board of Realtors in a recent interview. “Money may be out there for borrowing, but borrowing is becoming more difficult. Prices are stabilizing and that”™s a good sign. If we want to get the economy moving, banks play a pivotal role in making that happen. Otherwise, we”™re at a standstill, particularly in high-end homes.” The median home price for the county at the end of the first quarter of 2009 was $532,000.