Serenbe plans innovative senior living center
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Rendering: Courtesy of Serenbe
Over the past 20 years, South Fulton's Serenbe showed that a planned community in sprawling metro Atlanta could weave together sustainability and strong design to create a place where people would pay premiums to call it home.
- The team behind the luxury utopian development now wants to change the way people think about growing older with more independence.
What's happening: The mixed-use development situated on 1,400 acres among woods and farmland 45 minutes southwest of Atlanta wants to try a new model for seniors looking to live in a multigenerational setting.
- Serenbe founder Steve Nygren told Axios the senior campus will break up the traditional senior living model by "decoupling" housing from medical care and hospitality, allowing residents to pick and choose their services using an on-site medical concierge or select different amenities.
State of play: People aged 60 and over are expected to make up 25% of metro Atlanta's population by 2030, making them the 10-county metro region's second-largest age group, according to the Atlanta Regional Commission.
Of note: The wellness center and housing — apartments, courtyard cottages, and standalone cottages, all of which are rentals — will be mingled with uses such as youth centers and retail to encourage interaction between generations of families, singles, and seniors who already reside at Serenbe.
- "The idea was that the less mobile would have windows and terraces that face the school and the pool where all that noise and activity is because that was a key part," Nygren said.
"Our whole goal now is free-range kids and uncaged elders," said Nygren, a former restaurateur turned eco-minded developer.
The big picture: The community is part of Serenbe's nearly $300 million next phase that will include a destination hotel and wellness resort, another hotel, retail, and office space.
- In late July, the Development Authority of Fulton County unanimously approved an $11 million tax break for the project, which is expected to break ground in the second quarter of 2024.
Zoom in: The team that helped develop Hogeweyk, a groundbreaking village-like facility in the Netherlands for people living with dementia, is consulting on the project.