Real estate consultant Tracy Cross of Schaumburg, Ill., cites plans by several builders in the Chicago area for such projects, and says the number of age-restricted communities has grown by 20 percent nationwide in the past two years. Sporadic attempts at leisured-focused retirement communities in colder climates have sputtered, running into trouble with every big economic downturn. Today, with the first baby boomers in their early 50s, the country appears poised at the edge of a revolution in the retirement-age population. The obvious choice was the Chicago area, whose residents proved more loyal to their city than any other urban northerners, according to Del Webb's surveys of tens of thousands of prospective buyers. The dream of many retirees of a 52-week golf vacation life is a thing of the past, according to David Wolfe, author of Serving the Ageless Market and an occasional marketing consultant for Del Webb.
People now look at retirement as a way to redefine their purpose.
They are interested in classes, volunteer organizations and even part-time job opportunities. When Jim and Carolyn Kleen sold their one-acre property in the Chicago suburb of Dundee and moved out to a smaller home in Sun City Huntley last year, they wanted to forge new ties without breaking old ones. Both daughters are in college in Illinois and the Kleens still attend their old church and shop at the same supermarket they have for 20 years. Then there are the grandkids. Del Webb says research shows that is perhaps the biggest factor of all, and tries to tap into that thinking with Sun City billboards along Chicago highways that show vigorous gray-haired people frolicking with children.