At the retirement community in Highlands Ranch, apartments are filling up about as fast as the owners can build them.
Work is underway now on the 62-and-over community’s 10th structure. Featuring a combination of one- and two- bedroom apartments, the 99-unit, $33.2 million Longs Ridge building is set to open early next summer.
As of last week, 80 percent of those apartments had already been sold to people on Wind Crestap wait list, said Jason Atwell, Wind Crestap senior director of sales and marketing.
That interest is nothing new for the nonprofit that opened its first two buildings on an 84-acre swath of land southeast of the Santa Fe Drive-C-470 interchange in 2007.
Wind Crest has 573 apartments in its 5-building, “Neighborhood 1” complex on the north side of the High Line Canal Trail. Every one of those is occupied, Atwell said.
Between November 2014 and October 2015, Wind Crest opened the first three buildings of its Neighborhood 2 complex — of which Longs Ridge will be part — south of the canal. All 206 units in those buildings also are already occupied. , wind Crest’s assisted living center that opened in 2013 and offers skilled nursing care, rooms for rehabilitation, and specialty care for seniors living with Alzheimer’s and other memory issues, is also 95 percent full.
“Thatap a great problem to have,” Atwell said of the overwhelming demand.
As a nonprofit, Wind Crest adds apartments based on demand to remain financially stable, Atwell said. Because demand is high, planning is already underway for yet another apartment building. Atwell said that could be open by early 2018.
The need isn’t confined to Wind Crest. New senior living facilities offering various levels of care are popping up all across the metro area, particularly in the quickly graying southern counties.
In , the project is set to open in late 2016 or early 2017. Representatives there say people are already putting down deposits to secure apartments. That facility will have 124 independent living apartments and 71 assisted living apartments.
Jodie McCann is the for the Highlands Ranch Metro District. She’s not surprised that demand is so high at Wind Crest. Itap been well known for years that Douglas County is among the most rapidly aging areas in the country. County statistics indicate that by 2030, one in four residents will be over the age of 60, she said.
“I think itap essential.” McCann said of new housing options being built for seniors in Douglas County, whether it be at Wind Crest or other Highlands Ranch retirement communities like or .
“I think the main point in what I try to do in my outreach is offer choices,” McCann said. “Older adults need choice. Wind Crest is just another really good example of another living choice because they have the multiple levels of care.”
McCann said one option that is not well represented in the local market yet is senior-focused apartments that are more affordable and offer shorter term leases.
When speaking to residents, one of the most commonly mentioned benefits of living in community like Wind Crest is socialization. The community has several fine dining restaurants, its own pub, an art and enrichment center and many other amenities. Atwell said Wind Crest residents pride themselves on being part of the greater metro area community. They have knitted hats for newborns at Littleton Adventist Hospital and worked together to make a fully furnished doll house that was then donated to Children’s Hospital.
Dottie Hurlburt has been living Wind Crest for 16 months. She has two grand nieces who live in Highlands Ranch. She said social opportunities and convenient services, like the shopping shuttle she took to Walmart last week, are part of what she likes about living there.
“Everyone is so friendly,” Hurlburt said. “Everything that they offer is very convenient. We have a nice patio with a fire pit that people gather around at night. I like it very much.”