Senior Living Operators See Student Relationships As Gateway To More intergenerational Communities 

Baby boomers are a different customer than the generation that came before them. Many want experiences – and contact with people of all ages.

University senior living projects are one way that senior living operators have incorporated people of different generations. Senior living communities also are sometimes directly hosting students, artists in residence and researchers within their four walls.

“We’re dealing with a different customer in the boomer, and they’re looking for things. They’re looking for experiences,” Bob Kramer, founder of Nexus Insights and former CEO of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care, told Senior Housing News. “They’re not looking for us for a care destination … They want to know that you’re going to put more life in their years, not just add years to their life.”

The recent uptick in university projects is an indicator of demand to better bridge an intergenerational gap in senior living, he said.

Cherie Macri, director of enCompass at Masonicare, oversees the Wallingford, Connecticut-based operator’s program that places college students within a senior living community. Having younger adults in the building exposes them to the work involved in senior living and potentially lures some of them to work for an operator.  

“I think to have a genuine immersive experience with somebody or a small cohort residing amongst it does make a difference,” Macri said.

From village to campus

Among the top ways senior living companies bridge generations is by opening a community on or directly adjacent to a college campus.

One of the latest operators to announce a university location is Seattle-based Merrill Gardens, which is developing a 250-unit independent living, assisted living and memory care community in partnership with San Diego State University with an estimated completion in 2030.

“We still like to have that feeling of all kinds of people around us, and so I don’t think that changes,” Tana Gall, president at Merrill Gardens, told SHN. “Our job as developers and operators is to find meaningful ways to create some of those intergenerational engagement opportunities.”

The senior living company is planning the community within the university’s Mission Valley district and football stadium with ample access to surrounding transportation and recreation options.

This is the operator’s first university project, and if Gall has anything to say about it, it won’t be the last. Universities still have access to plots of land set aside for development, which can lower the barrier to entry for developers and operators.

Masonicare has brought students from four universities to live in its communities alongside residents. Masonicare vets incoming students with an interview, a tour and a formal application process including references and an essay proving the student wants to be there.

The operator expanded the program and now,the students live together within one unit, and the experience has been positive for both residents and students, according to Macri. While taking part in the program, students perform community service around the senior living community, and residents benefit from developing relationships with younger people.

“We have heard stories of them shifting like the student’s career path by advice that they’ve given them and the pride that they have there,” Macri said. “You really do see the pride on the residents’ faces when they’re able to have a breakthrough moment with one of the students.”’

Intergenerational, but not 24 hours a day’

Kramer believes intergenerational living works best when some separation remains between senior residents and younger generations due to the very different lifestyles they lead.

In one community Kramer visited, residents had voted to open their dining venues to the greater community, which was well received among the residents.

Anecdotally, Kramer said residents told him they enjoyed that when the dining room closed they still had the community to themselves.

Proximity can lead to disputes among generations who live differently from one another. For example, students and residents clashed over noise levels at Mirabella at ASU in 2021.

“They love intergenerational, but not for 24 hours a day,” Kramer said. “If you look at the university retirement communities and their success, ultimately, those actual living quarters revolve around that sort of time clock of the older adult.”

Gall expects that senior living operators like Merrill Gardens will continue on with university projects.

“It’s helping us keep up with what the demands are going to be as baby boomers, and I’m Generation X. It’s something I’m interested in,” Gall said.

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