Those numbers continued a trend that began in the 1970s and support the idea that it's not just a new world but a new county. Those are common things that a lot of urban areas experience. Gordon Cole of Athens saw the trend and capitalized. Cole saw something that Chemung County lacked - new houses built in nice neighborhoods specifically for older persons. In 1997 Cole broke ground on Retirement Estates in Big Flats, a community of small and mid-sized homes off Sing Sing Road just north of Horseheads Middle School.
Residents buy the houses and lease the small, manageable lots.
Services such as lawn care, maintenance and snow removal are available. Cole had already built and sold a similar retirement community in Bradford County. But there's a huge population of retirees here and all of them want to be independent. We realized from our experience that they'll do anything to keep out of a nursing home. We sort of have a captive audience.