Construction of new senior citizen housing -- including independent-living and assisted-living communities -- is growing in Western Pennsylvania and nationwide, despite the national slowdown on new housing development, experts say.
The total value of senior housing deals in the July-September period was greater than the combined total in the previous two full years, according to the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing & Care Industry, based in Maryland. It said 380 properties valued at $5.2 billion were completed, primarily by real estate investment trusts that specialize in housing for the elderly.
In the Pittsburgh region, developers say production of senior citizens complexes often consists of 50 units or fewer, and that larger complexes with more than 100 units are no longer being built.
Developer William Gatti of Trek Development in Pittsburgh developed four senior citizen communities this year, involving a combined 120 units and costing about $20 million. One of the four was the 24-unit Kittanning Cottages in Kittanning. Others are in Pittsburgh's Hill District and in Punxsutawney and Blairsville.
Gatti plans four more communities in 2012, with a combined 150 units. They will be in Gibsonia, Ridgeway, Somerset and Braddock.
"Obtaining financing for senior citizen housing is not easy but it is better than for other housing developments," he said. He has used a federal tax credit program to help fund these affordable-housing complexes, which are not subsidized.
Bob and Ruth Lind are typical of seniors who gave up their homes to move into senior citizen housing. They decided this year to sell their seven-room, three-bedroom home in Somerset and become residents of the Village of St. Barnabas in Gibsonia.
"I got tired of taking care of a large yard and at 84, I decided it was time to enjoy living in a community where those maintenance matters were taken care of," said Bob Lind, former publisher of the Somerset Daily American newspaper.
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Senior housing can generally be divided into three main categories: independent living assisted living and residential nursing care facilities. Some senior housing facilities offer a combination of all three facilities, allowing the senior to move within the same complex as their need for care increase, while others specialize in offering just one type of accommodation. Thanks.
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