Submitted by KBE Building Corporation
With the senior living and multi-family housing markets poised for a major uptick in the next few years, owners and developers are already on the ground planning new communities that will come online just in time to meet the demand.
While most experts in the seniors market are seeing continued stagnation from 2023 – due to less-than-stellar interest rates and increased construction costs – they are also anticipating a big rebound in 2027-2031, when the baby boomers “come of age,” reaching their 80s, and will be seeking new housing options.
On the multi-family housing front, the market remains fairly stable in the Northeast, again with expectations of near-future growth, driven by today’s robust occupancy rates and the continued high cost of single-family homes and interest rates.
Putting proof to the pudding are six projects that KBE Building Corporation now has underway in both markets, either in the planning or construction phase.
“Clearly, everyone has been very focused on construction costs and interest rates, and we’ve been staying very close to the market,” says Jim Culkin, KBE’s chief operations officer and firm principal. “With the anticipation of easing interest rates, we are assisting our clients now in forecasting how this will play out in the next 12-24 months by providing construction cost models that will facilitate their development planning.”
Planning for new consumer demands is also a top priority.
“We’re looking at a changing consumer now,” says Sunrise Senior Living’s Philip Kroskin, SVP of investment and real Estate, based in McLean, Va., where he oversees the company’s growth through the development of new communities. “We’re in that low trench where the market is moving from the Silent Generation to the boomers. By 2027, we expect to see a big wave of baby boomers reaching their 80s, and they will have very different expectations from today’s senior consumer. They will be looking for highly amenitized housing, larger units, wellness options, and more, which means operationally that we need to modify our buildings to meet that need.”
Not withstanding the current challenges of the market, Sunrise has four communities underway, with all opening by year-end; an additional six projects that are shovel-ready; and another dozen in the planning phase. KBE has completed two projects with Sunrise Senior Living in recent years.
KBE is also managing the construction of several major multi-unit housing developments underway on the Connecticut coast.
One of the newest is The August at Steelpointe Harbor, a $190 million mixed-use, transit-oriented development set adjacent to the Bridgeport Harbor Marina. KBE is providing preconstruction and construction management services to the development team of Flaherty & Collins Properties and RCI Group. The groundbreaking for the 420-unit waterfront property was held this past January.
“What we like about the Northeast market is that it’s a high barrier entry market, so you don’t see as many units coming online,” explains Ryan Cronk, vice president of development and partner at Flaherty & Collins Properties. The Northeast is a relatively new market for the Indianapolis-based housing developer. “Because it can be challenging to go through the approvals process, there’s high demand and not enough supply coming on fast enough to meet it. That’s a good market for us.”
KBE is also at mid-point in construction on Piper, an 855,000sf mixed-use community that will provide 393 luxury rental units when complete in spring 2025. Located in Norwalk, Piper is developed by Toll Brothers.
In nearby Stamford, private owner Mozaic Senior Life (formerly Jewish Senior Services) has engaged KBE for the planning and construction of Mozaic Concierge Living, a new 168-unit luxury life plan community on Long Ridge Road. Now in pre-sale, Mozaic Concierge Living will provide the full gamut of senior care, from independent living to assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing at its 42-unit Health Center.
Andrew Banoff, president and CEO of Mozaic Senior Living, said the decision to move forward with the new life plan community makes “absolute sense” at this time, citing the coming wave of baby boomers seeking housing options as they age.
“The demographics trend is not a new conversation,” Banoff says. “We’re all respectful that the market is aging and that we will need more capacity to serve people as they age. We chose the Stamford market for a couple of reasons. We have a long history here and there are very few life plan choices in this area – a lot of rentals, to be sure, but very few communities such as ours.”
