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Alternative
Lifestyles, Comfortable Retirements
by Margaret Ann Miille Palms of Manasota is breaking ground for a progressive concept - retirement communities that cater primarily to gay and lesbian senior citizens. Retirement communities cater primarily to gay and lesbian clientele. Palms of Manasota looks to the passer-by like any other retirement community. The walled Palmetto neighborhood so far consists of 19 yellow homes encircling a pond. Residents call each other by first name, pop by for coffee and conversation, and sometimes squabble over the diet of Mickey, an egret and a regular visitor. What makes the close-knit development unusual is that only gay and lesbian couples live there. What makes it progressive - even within its own market niche - is that it leads a handful of similar projects nationwide that have yet to break ground. Palms of Manasota was the multimillion-dollar dream of its founder, Bill Laing, a gay retired college professor who wanted to build a place where older people with alternative lifestyles could live openly without fear. He launched the development four years ago - largely with his own money gained from property investments and an inheritance. When he died of cancer May 15, the project fell to John Dorr, a designated trustee and Episcopal priest who lives on site with his partner, Bruce Wagener. Dorr, who lacks Laing's real estate background, has overcome his initial trepidation about carrying Palms of Manasota to completion. "I'm over my fear now; I feel good about it now," he said. "I had some concerns about my abilities, but my whole philosophy is to consult with everyone. I think I can handle it with the help of my friends." Palms of Manasota is an ambitious project, with plans for an assisted-living facility, a recreation center and up to 52 villas to be completed by July 2002. The 19 three-bedroom, two-bathroom homes comprise the bulk of the first phase. The last two of the 21 lots have been sold; houses will be built on them by the end of the year. Land has been cleared for the second phase, estimated to cost $5.5 million and to be completed next summer. It includes the recreation center and villas, which will cost from $100,000 to $125,000, depending on their size and number. About $6.9 million will be needed for the last phase - an assisted-living center to be named Grace Manor, after Laing's mother. That operation will be set up as a nonprofit and will house about 44 people. Dorr said he remains confident that the Palms of Manasota his predecessor envisioned will become a reality, though the target dates may need to be extended. The rate of progress hinges upon financing. The project so far has been fueled by the sale of lots and homes; their combined prices range from $120,000 to $141,600. But less than $100,000 remains in a corporate trust that Laing had set up. Dorr estimates the next phase alone will require securing a line of credit of about $500,000. Sales of the villas, in turn, will pay for the assisted-living center. LEADING A TREND Despite the uncertainty that accompanies a change of leadership in any project, Palms of Manasota is no pipe dream. Similar developments across the country have yet to make the crucial leap off the drawing board. Perhaps the grandest is the Arbours, a planned nationwide string of upscale retirement communities targeting affluent gay and lesbians seniors. Business partners Jeffrey Dillion and John DeLeo of Fort Lauderdale began two years ago planning high-rises with 320 apartments in downtown Fort Lauderdale, New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Cathedral City, Calif. Their "urban village" concept is to offer a mixture of time shares and apartments for independent and assisted living. Each complex will include commercial space for shopping, restaurants, an art gallery and performing arts center. The project is estimated to coast about $122 million for a total of 1 million square feet. The founders are still trying to secure financing. "The bottom line is gays and lesbians currently cannot feel comfortable in a traditional retirement setting, without fear of worrying how they will be treated," Dillion said. But they do not advocate building a world apart. "It should be composed of people who are young and old, straight and gay," DeLeo said. "I think the baby boomers have a level of expectations greater than ever before. They may not want to be isolated or segregated from the community, as in the case of most traditional retirement communities. Once you go into a facility like that, the only people to visit you are family and friends." Unlike Palms of Manasota, where residents own their homes and villas, Arbours residents will pay from $200,000 to $400,000 in entry fees, which will entitle them to lifetime use of the facilities, plus monthly fees. When residents die, their heirs will get 90 percent of the entry fees back; the development will get the rest. Dillion and DeLeo temper their enthusiasm with a fallback plan. "All our hypotheses are based on traditional facilities," DeLeo said. "In the event it doesn't work, that the market isn't as deep as we imagine it to be, they can easily be converted to traditional facilities." Gay and lesbian seniors represent a growing force that previously escaped marketing radar. Their numbers remain elusive, given the "in the closet" lifestyle of many of them. The American Society of Aging, however, estimates they constitute up to 15 percent of the U.S. population. A PART OF THE COMMUNITY The Gay and Lesbian Association of Retiring Persons, based in Los Angles, has been planning its own retirement destination since the nonprofit group formed in 1996. It has its eye on a parcel in Palms Springs - a city known to be gay-friendly, according to Veronica St. Claire, the association's founding director and chief executive officer. "We decided if we would do it, we would do it slow and do it right," she said. "Our community doesn't need failures." In a reversal of the Palms of Manasota scenario, St. Claire said financing for that $22 million project will be easier to gain once it gets off the ground. But the sheer demographics of its aging target group will propel the development forward, she said. Most of the approximately 1,300 gays and lesbians surveyed by the group said they want to retire near people like themselves. "I think people just want to live in a comfortable situation where they can be with their own people. Particularly when they are older, security is a big factor," St. Claire said. "They want to live where they can be accepted, where somebody is not going to point a finger at them." Dorr says they will succeed. As the new leader, he is getting more than he bargained for. He was looking for a place to build a monastery in 1996 when he met Laing, who was eager to share his plans for Palms of Manasota. "I had to be convinced it was going to fly," Dorr said. "A lot of guys said he was a dreamer." Dorr got his monastery, which he runs at his home in the form of a chapel. And until the project is completed, he uses a neighboring house as a smaller version of an assisted-living facility. Meanwhile, Laing remains in the community he founded. His ashes are scattered around the pond. "He put everything he had into his dream," Dorr said. "And the dream is becoming a reality." |