Multi Housing News July 2012 : Page 32
The community room at Courier Place (top left) features a variety of seating arrangements and a fl at-screen TV, providing a comfortable space in which younger and older residents can interact. The SE entrance to Courier Place (top right) showcases the contemporary garden style of the property, designed by William Hezmalhalch Architects. Photography by Juantallo.com. According to the Census Bureau, multigenerational households are defi ned as households that consist of “three or more generations of parents and their families.” The growth of multigenerational households has indeed accelerated in the economic downturn. In 2000, there were 5 million households comprised of multiple generations (4.8 percent of all households). This number grew slowly until the last few years. By 2008, 6.2 million multigenerational households resided in the United States (5.3 percent of all households), jumping to 7.1 million such households in 2010 (6.1 percent of all households). Many factors are driving this trend. Families are coming together to share caring duties for economic reasons and emotional support. Sometimes a senior member of the extended family needs care and, in some instances, seniors are providing support to their own children and/or grandchildren. A planned lifestyle choice While in many instances multigenerational living is a result of neces-sity, in other cases it is a planned lifestyle choice. Such is the case at Courier Place, an affordable, multigenerational, multifamily property located on a 3.4-acre infi ll site in downtown Claremont, Calif. Also a transit-oriented and sustainable development, Courier Place is one of only a few affordable, multigenerational apartment developments in California. It is Jamboree’s fi rst multigenerational property and is the fi rst affordable, multigenerational project developed in Los Angeles County—which made a considerable investment in the development, as did the City of Claremont. The 75-unit Courier Place is a housing milestone for the City of Cla-remont and Jamboree. It is home to seniors and families who earn be-tween 30 percent and 50 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI). Instead of living together under one roof, seniors live in a single building specially designed for them. It features 38 one-bedroom apartments, an elevator and recreation spaces for friendship and social gatherings. The family apartments are encompassed in two nearby buildings and consist of 36 two-and three-bedroom apartments, each with two bath-rooms. The average age of seniors at Courier Place is 75, and the 36 families include 66 children. Although there were some initial reservations about the willingness of seniors to live close to families with children, the lease-up of Cou-rier Place was quickly achieved and the property opened in January with 100 percent occupancy. As with any new property, there are minor glitches to work out, but day-to-day property management operations so far have been smooth without any signifi cant problems integrating family and senior residents. A key reason for this is that seniors have their separate building where they can fi nd respite and quiet conversa-tion if they want it, or they can interact in the community center, play-ground, pool or patio dining areas with the families and children living in the neighboring buildings on site. Bringing generations together Our goal is not to keep our residents apart but as much as possible to bring the generations together in a friendly and comfortable set-ting that also has value in terms of social interaction and new learning. To this end, Jamboree’s on site Resident Services Group is creating programming designed to connect family and senior residents through such activities as: • Shared fi eld trips to local museums and cultural attractions for educa-tional purposes and to promote friendship and communication; • Mentoring programs that provide opportunities for seniors and young 32 July 2012 | Multi-Housing News
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