The Optimal Aging Podcast
Millions of people over age 50 represent the biggest consumer market in history for fitness, nutrition, travel, recreation and more. But most businesses don't know how to market to them. We'll interview entrepreneurs, business leaders and innovators to discuss this exciting opportunity.
The Optimal Aging Podcast
Communities for Active Agers Are a Far Cry from Outdated Ideas of 'Old Folks Homes'
My grandmother, who was born in 1905, lived at home until the end of her life at 95, but she was always afraid her children would send her to an old folks home, as she called it.
Nowadays, things have changed so much we might even need a new vocabulary to discuss communities for older people.
But whatever we call them, they’re offering a more attractive environment for people to live later in life, with individual homes, nice amenities, and lots of fitness and recreation activities.
What’s it like at one of these communities? Do they seem appealing to you? Well, that’s what we’re looking at today on Optimal Aging, the show about fitness, health and wellbeing for people over 50. Each week we explore what healthy living means for millions of people in this lucrative yet underserved market, with a focus on communications, content and making powerful connections. I’m your host Jay Croft of Prime Fit Content, which helps connect businesses with people over 50.
My guest today is Sara Carbonell, director of marketing at Amblebrook at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. Amblebrook solves the “what do you call it” problem directly and simply: 55+ active adult living. It touts amenities like a pool and fitness center to social spaces, with lots of activities, including tons of exercise opportunities. Prices start in the 300 thousands and residences include single-family homes and villas that share a common wall.
It couldn’t be more different from my grandmother’s nightmares.
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Amblebrook Gettysburg
Prime Fit Content – Engage the over-50 market
My grandmother, who was born in 1905, lived at home until the end of her life at age 95. But she was always afraid that her children would send her to an old folks home, as she called it.
Speaker 1:She wasn't just afraid she was terrified of it. And I guess you can see why, given the state of retirement homes 100 years ago, right, given the state of retirement homes 100 years ago, right. But nowadays things have changed so much that we might even need a new vocabulary to discuss senior living. Or is it retirement lifestyles or active aging communities? I don't know, but whatever we call them, they're offering a more attractive environment for people to live in later in life, with individual homes, nice amenities, lots of fitness and recreation facilities and activities, and like so much about aging in America, this segment of the economy is booming with options aimed at the baby boomer plus segment, which has money to spend and doesn't want to sit idly by in their later years and decades. What's it like at one of these communities? Do they seem appealing to you? Well, that's what we're looking at today on Optimal Aging the show about fitness, health and well-being for people over 50. Each week, we explore what healthy living means for millions of people in this lucrative yet underserved market, with a focus on communications, content and making powerful connections.
Speaker 1:I'm your host, jay Croft of Prime Fit Content. My guest today is Sarah Carbonell, director of Marketing at Amblebrook at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. Amblebrook solves the what-do-you-call-it problem directly and simply. They say 55-plus active adult living. I love it. Amblebrook touts amenities like a pool and fitness center, social spaces, lots of activities, tons of exercise opportunities. Prices start in the $300,000 and go up, up up, and residences include single-family homes and villas that share a common wall. In short, it looks pretty nice and it couldn't be more different from my grandmother's nightmares. It also might be representative of what we're seeing more and more of now and we'll be seeing more and more of in the near future. So let's dive in and learn more. Here's my conversation with Sarah. All right, sarah, hello. Thanks for joining me today. It's a pleasure to meet you.
Speaker 2:Pleasure to meet you too.
Speaker 1:All right, I am so excited to learn about Amblebrook because ever since I've been doing the podcast, I've wanted to have someone on to talk about innovations and current status of this gosh. I don't even know what we're supposed to call it. Senior living isn't right and retirement homes aren't right, and I'm going to ask you to set the table on all of this, and maybe even starting with how do we say this in language that is appropriate for today's market?
Speaker 2:Sure, we at Crown Community Development the way that we've positioned our community is really for the active adult, and so, in particular, we offer a resort style living which really does turn the tables on the retirement community.
Speaker 2:Right, when you think about retirement communities of the past or senior living, it was a place where you would go and maybe develop connections with people, but the amenities were very sparse and maybe they were focused on playing cards and things like that. We developed this community with that buyer in mind, where, through research, we've understood that this is the time in this buyer's life where it's the most unencumbered time of their lives. Right, our buyers here are really focused on establishing new hobbies and honestly trying to live longer, and so they're doing whatever it takes when they want to be in a place that encourages that. And so we at Crown we understood that and we refer to that buyer profile as very active. We don't even talk about retirement. It's not a word that we use in our branding, we don't talk about it in any of our marketing or advertising, because it's not about that. It's really about how can you live well longer, and really it's find the fountain of youth you can find it here, type of thing.
Speaker 1:Living well longer, not just living longer.
Speaker 2:That's right, you got it.
Speaker 1:That's yeah, it's really important and that's something we talk about a lot on this podcast and in my content with gyms. Trying to appeal to older people who want to stay fit and active is we don't all just want to live to be 100 if we can't get out of bed. We want to stay active and live our vital best lives for as long as possible, and I love what you're doing to overcome the stereotypes of previous generations' ideas about what are the options going to be. For me when I'm older, resort-style living sounds a lot nicer than old folks' home or something like that, and I love the way you focused in on the modern boomer. When I started Prime Fit content a few years ago, everyone said oh, that's great, you're talking about the baby boomers, and I was very quick to say no, I'm not talking about the baby boomers. I'm talking about people 50 and over. Some of them are baby boomers, some of them are not. Tell me about that distinction for you at Amble Brook.
Speaker 2:Our average age is around 62. And being that it's an age-restricted community that starts at 55, that's really skewing on the younger side right.
Speaker 2:It doesn't mean that we don't have and I know her or that we don't have an 80 year old who is exceptionally active and she's involved in all of the fitness classes. And she you would think she's 60, but she's 80. Our buyer here is looking for connection. They're looking to get involved in all kinds of activities and a lot of them are fitness and wellness focused and our programming supports that and we also, because we recognize that this buyer wants that we also bring in and partner with the outside entities. For example, we partner with WellSpan Health and they have a space within our fitness center. They provide physical therapy. They also have done massage. They'll consult with residents here about any health concerns and they're also doing some new. It's a blend between personal training but also like preventative care, so focusing on balance so that you don't get injured and you don't get hurt.
Speaker 2:That's where our buyer is. They want the connection, they want the activities, they want to stay busy. This buyer here is looking for has a new lease on life, was looking to grow younger, and so they're incorporating all of those types of things, whether it's fitness and wellness, to also activities that challenge you mentally and then also socially too. We have programs where we bring in somebody focused on a certain topic, like a TED Talk, and we encourage people to attend that, and then what happens from there is these residents enjoy that so much that they raise their hands and say, hey, I'm an expert on this or I want to talk about this. And so the programming starts to build within itself.
Speaker 1:You've modeled some of this on the blue zones, which is like a favorite topic of mine. I want to get to all that, but before we do give us the nuts and bolts about, am I renting an apartment building? Am I buying a standalone house? Is there a gym on the property? Like, just give me this setup of what we're talking about with Amble Brook.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Amble Brook is a 55 plus resort style community in the heart of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. We will have around 2000 homes at the completion of this, over 50,000 square feet of indoor amenities which we built up front. So we have a welcome center that is about 7,000 square feet, which has a onsite cafe and market which allows for residents to come and grab a cup of coffee or a snack or breakfast and lunch, but also to shop locally. We bring in outside vendors and feature them here so it gives them a kind of a taste of Gettysburg, especially if they don't know Gettysburg. So we try to give them a flavor for that. And we also have a clubhouse that is around 27,000 square feet and we've got an exhibition interactive kitchen which is excellent. It's like a sur la table where you can be as active or passive as you'd like. We frequently bring in chefs to showcase a meal and you can cook alongside that chef or you can learn some knife skills and things like that. We can actually stream that too. So if you wanted to join from the comfort of your home, you could.
Speaker 2:In that space we also have a canvas studio which is all for arts. We've got all kinds of arts within that space, so painting pottery, we have an on-site kiln in that room, which is really neat. We have a theater, a small theater, on site as well and that's where we host kind of lunch and learns or TED talks. We even we can show Superbowl, for example, or a movie for the grandkids, while the grandparents are in the kitchen right next door having like a wine and cheese get together. It's really nice. We also have a game room, the Indigo room, focused on all kinds of games, from pinnacle to mahjong, to poker to Scrabble, all kinds of things. It's outfitted with all kinds of games and that room is very busy.
Speaker 1:So it sounds like more subdivision where I buy an individual home and I live in a subdivision, rather than a place where you might rent a room or rent a condo or something.
Speaker 2:We've got five builders here and they build single family homes and villa homes and, yep, you as a resident, you come into the community and you not only do you get this amazing lifestyle component, but you also would then purchase a home, and all of the builders offer a lot of a variety of product here.
Speaker 1:Give me a little information on who your key customer is, who are, as far as I don't know, age you mentioned that your average is 62, but I think we're probably talking about a certain income level or a certain level of economic ability here, right, which goes. The reason I'm asking is because that goes a lot to fitness too. People say I don't want old people, they don't have any money, and I'm like you're not paying attention, because older people have the money and they want to spend it with you. If you would just provide them a good service. So tell me a little bit about who this is for and who you're marketing to.
Speaker 2:Sure. So we have our buyer is really pretty affluent and they're very well educated. They're mostly they represent. Many of them are coming from the mid-Atlantic area. The majority are coming from Maryland and Virginia, northern Virginia. We have some from Pennsylvania. Of course, we're starting to see some from New York and then it's starting to. It has, over the course of the years, spread down the coast, north Carolina all the way to Florida. We even have somebody that's come here from Alaska. They're coming from a, let's say, like a $700,000 home and they're they're using that. And many of them are cash buyers and if they do any type of financing, they're financing a portion of it to accommodate the fact that they want the loft, for example, in their home, or maybe they want some additional options. They love entertaining, so they always, many of them, will add some sort of patio or outdoor living, outdoor fireplace to their home. We've got some homes that have hit a million dollars and they might be coming from a million-dollar home or they're going to a million-dollar home.
Speaker 2:It's more. They want what they want.
Speaker 1:They're very affluent they are not looking to necessarily scale back Now. Are there services provided like lawn care and house maintenance, and is there a medical facility on the property? And like why would I want to leave my home and move there to Pennsylvania just for a nice house? What else is the motivation for your customers?
Speaker 2:Well, I think the main motivation is the lifestyle, and the amenities that we have are second to none. I mentioned that clubhouse and we I went I was going through some of the rooms but we also have a fitness center that's almost equivalent in size, with a state-of-the-art strength and cardio room, a four lane 25 yard lap pool, movement studio and an outdoor resort pool. We've got walking trails, dog park, we're building a community garden and then miles, like I said, miles of walking trails actually. But it really starts with the lifestyle. In addition to that, it is low-maintenance living. So, for the HOA fee that they pay, which is $315 a month, which is a steal, especially in this kind of surrounding area you get lawn care and then also snow removal.
Speaker 1:How does Amble Book fit into the bigger picture? Is this a part of a trend? Are there other businesses building similar communities? Are you at the cutting edge? What I'm trying to get at is people listening to this might be intrigued to know more about what else is out there.
Speaker 2:The most familiar brand is Del Webb with their Sun Cities which they started 20 plus years ago. They were the pioneers really in this kind of space. But as time has gone by and the interest of these buyers has really changed and you think about the blue zones and what people want and how to really live longer, the amenities and then the facilities need to support that.
Speaker 1:Why do you think recreation and fitness and wellness, the whole thing in the broader picture? It's just fascinating how everything's changed that 40 or 50 years ago, being 50 or 60 years old, your life was over and just sit there and wait right it's not where we are now.
Speaker 2:No, it's not. Well, the fitness industry is clearly at the forefront. Really this type of just the world right now. Right, everybody wants to live longer and it's really for us. We try to support that, and nobody wants what was happening years ago. Right, nobody wants to be go off to the old folks home.
Speaker 2:And it's you have a whole second half of life to live right. And so I feel like the fitness industry really saw that and said what can we do to encourage that? And so they come out with a lot of different types of machines and programs and things to show how you can get fit now at 50 or 60, and this is what you can do.
Speaker 2:And then it just kind of it morphs into all kinds of things, even consumer products. And if you think about the other consumer products, from clothing to makeup and things like that, everybody is trying to push age off, and so why not? Why don't we support that in how we develop our communities too? Because that is all encompassing right, that is your every day. It hits all aspects and if you can, if you can facilitate that on a daily basis, not just in a product or not just in a service, but just holistically, it becomes very attractive, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it does. My mother died last year at 87 and she's lived at home until she passed, and but we didn't know, of course, if she could have lived a lot longer. We looked around and there was a Dell web near her and she was not interested in that for various reasons, which I totally understand. She's 87. I'm 60. I can see myself and people in my age group and my generation thinking, heck, yeah, I want to live where there's a golf course and tennis courts and a restaurant and somebody to mow the lawn. Sign me up. It's a whole different way of looking at optimal aging, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is, and we find sometimes we've seen when folks come in to visit the community they oftentimes will bring their grown children.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sure.
Speaker 2:Because they one. They're maybe moving closer to that grown child and grandchildren, but it's important to them, their opinion is important to them and it's interesting because you see, maybe like a 30-something-year-old or 40-something-year-old going around with their mother or father and they find a community like this attractive too and they want. How about me? There's a bar here in the clubhouse. I have my onsite fitness center. I don't have to pay a membership fee to here and there and yeah, it is really attractive. And it'd be great if we had more communities like this for all age groups.
Speaker 1:That's there. That would be fun. So tell me about the Blue Zones. I really am intrigued by this idea. I'm fascinated by the whole Blue Zones thing with the book. I don't know if you saw the Netflix series, but it was really. It was excellent it was.
Speaker 1:Beautifully photographed and put together and it all makes such sense. You just want to say why aren't we all living like that? So how did you all incorporate the Blue Zones and I guess we should say a little bit about what the Blue Zones model is, but tell us that and how you worked that into developing Ambleport.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the Blue Zones were our regions where people are experiencing higher longevity throughout the world, and I believe there's nine elements of the Blue Zones. And then we, of course, took resident surveys. But when it comes to the blue zones, we have looked at all of those elements and we plan our programming accordingly.
Speaker 2:There's one blue zone right that talks about it's actually interesting about wine, right the importance of wine and not going crazy on drinking, but maybe a glass of wine, and how that encourages social connection and the benefits behind a glass of red wine, for example. So we take that and we say how can we incorporate that into the activities and programming that we offer here for our residents? We have this resident bar and lounge and we have a beverage locker and we'll bring in providers right where they can serve a happy hour, one one day a week or something like that. And then when it comes to there's another zone that talks about movement. Movement is so important. You don't want to be sedentary. We set up programming that supports that.
Speaker 2:We've done a five K's throughout our community. We've done a heart walk. We also we have regular classes going on from yoga class to Zumba, to a sound and a sound theory class too, which is interesting. You think about social connection. All of these things encourage social connection. It's inherent in everything that you're doing. But we also take it and say, okay, what other activities can we encourage? How do we accomplish that? Maybe it's through art, maybe it's through a lecture series. We have a karaoke room. Maybe it's through karaoke.
Speaker 1:The Blue Zones concept really gets to the idea of I want to have a long life, but only as long as I'm having a good life. So, looking to the crystal ball a little bit, what's the future look like for Amblebrook and for Crown, as far as doing this elsewhere and taking this on the road?
Speaker 2:a little bit. We're always looking to expand our footprint. We have found really great success with Amblebrook and we've learned a lot too. From the beginning when we opened in 2019 to now, we've really increased and improved what we offer and our position in the marketplace, so we really would love to do this again somewhere else. We're just actively looking for the next Amblebrook, the next town that has kind of everything that we found here in Gettysburg and that's also part of why we chose here is a lot of research goes into communities like this, but a connection to an area. The area has to have some sort of culture, and Gettysburg has culture and history. You can go overseas and say Gettysburg, pennsylvania, and people know it right, and so we're actively looking for the next Amble Brook where not only can we encourage awesome programming within the community, but that the area supports the same type of amenities, whether it's hiking and biking outside, or historical influence or theater. Those are core components to the piece of land that we would find and want to build on.
Speaker 1:I'm really excited about what you and others are doing in this space because it just makes sense. That's what got me into writing about Fitness Over 50. And it mirrors a lot of the exciting activity I'm seeing from gyms and trainers out there who are very smartly tuning into this lucrative and underserved market of people over 50 who want to live long and well. If people want to learn more, they can go to amblebrookgettysburgcom, and I'll put that link in the show notes as well. So thank you.
Speaker 2:You're welcome, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to Optimal Aging. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you'll subscribe, tell a friend and write a review. All of that helps me grow my audience. You can learn more about me and my content business at primefitcontentcom. You can send me an email at jay at primefitcontentcom. That's jay. Jay at primefitcontentcom. That's jay j-a-y at primefitcontentcom. I'm also on Facebook, linkedin and Instagram so you can find me anywhere you like and be in touch. And again, thanks for listening. Join me next time.
