Group homes furnish alternative for seniors

As the market for senior housing continues to grow in Reno, a group of real estate investors thinks it's found a winning concept with "shared living." The company called Above and Beyond has purchased two houses in Reno neighborhoods, invested heavily in updating them and is ready to begin marketing them to seniors who want to live in a home-like environment.

Each of the two homes one on Irving Circle just up the hill from Keystone and Seventh, the other on Granite Drive near Skyline Boulevard provides suites for up to six seniors.

Also living in each house will be a set of house parents, who will prepare continental breakfast and dinnertime cookies, handle the grocery shopping and provide limited concierge services.

The house parents aren't, however, trained nurses.

Above and Beyond's properties aren't nursing facilities.

They're targeted instead to healthy, active seniors but the house parents provide structure and security.

Phlecia Pierce, one of the California and Nevada investors funding the company, said the group looked at several investments in senior housing.

"After careful consideration, we realized that a smooth transition from

home to home is the perfect choice," she said.

For rents that range from $1,500 to about $2,200 a month, residents of the Above and Beyond properties will share big homes in established neighborhoods.

The Irving Circle property is 7,000 square feet, while the Granite Drive home is about 5,000 square feet.

Residents will have private bedrooms with baths.With the exception of breakfast, they'll cook their own meals in fully equipped kitchens.

(Each is provided a monthly grocery allowance.) They'll share living rooms with 60-inch television sets, and they'll share decks, courtyards and other space for entertainment.

A technology room with high-speed access allows residents to keep in e-mail contact with grandchildren.

Outside, space is available for individual gardening projects.

"They've invested a lot of money in the properties to bring them up to modern standards," said Doug Collins, whose DM Productions LLC spearheads Above and Beyond's marketing efforts.

Those marketing efforts, Collins said, start with the realization that about 70 percent of retirees choose to stay within 20 miles of their pre-retirement homes.

And John Cutter, author of "Aging Lifestyles," has found that most retirees would choose to stay at home a place that represents security and independence as long as possible.

DM Productions seeks to reach those retirees directly through seniors-oriented publications and broadcast stations.

A second piece of the marketing strategy is reaching out to seniors' children, Collins said.

Those children want their parents to live well, but also want to ensure that their parents are secure.

Daily contact with others living in the homes, for instance, provides continued monitoring of health.

Social contacts, Cutter has written, have a positive effect on physical health.

For the children of retirees, the marketing effort includes a Web site activeseniorliving.

net.

Pierce said acquisition of the right homes was critical to the company's plans.

Each of the two homes owned by the company are large enough to provide comfortable space for retirees and house parents, and each also is close to downtown Reno's amenities.

If the concept works in Reno, Collins said Above and Beyond looks to acquire properties and develop shared-living facilities in other markets nationally.

The northwest Reno home at 60 Irving Circle will open Nov.

2.

The Granite Drive home will follow in six to eight weeks.