New Boomer community rethinks life after 55

• Sun Cities in Arizona defined retirement living for post-war retirees
• Now%2C several communities for wealthier Baby Boomers popping up in Arizona
• Victory opens this year%2C aimed at Boomers who are redefining retirement

Del Webb's Sun Cities defined retirement living for America's first generation of post-war retirees. Now, another prominent Arizona developer wants to redefine living after 55.

An age-restricted community called Victory, within Buckeye's well-known Verrado development, will open in mid-2014. Victory is the first of several communities for wealthier Baby Boomers that Scottsdale-based DMB Associates plans to open across the West over the next decade.

It's a generation that expects to keep involved with work even if it scales back the hours — and Boomers, as they have proven over a lifetime, have ideas often different from their parents' about retirement. They don't want to live with people just their age who look just like them. They often plan to hike or work out instead of playing golf. They still want to be close to their families — but with a little space to themselves. And they really, really care about their living space.

"Baby Boomers are an aggressive group who have changed life for many," DMB Chairman Drew Brown said. "Our research shows us that many, like myself, don't plan to retire. We want to spend more time doing the things we enjoy most."

The deep-pocketed developer, which has built Verrado and DC Ranch and several other higher-end developments in Arizona, California and Hawaii, has spent the past decade and millions of dollars researching what Boomers will want in a community. DMB looked at where they will want to live, what amenities they want nearby and what features they will want in a home.

Brown said DMB hopes Victory will replace Sun City as the iconic place for people to spend the second part of their lives. And the developer, which has a big footprint in Arizona, California and other Western states, has the land, the locations and the resources to pursue its vision.

DMB executives talked to lifestyle, health and medical experts to design a place that meets the needs of the next wave of retirees. Because of medical advances, many could to live to be 100, about 25 years longer than the first residents of Sun City expected to live.

Unlike most other retirement developments launched in metro Phoenix during the past five decades, the first Victory will be an age-restricted housing area within a much bigger development where people of all ages live. Sunbelt Holdings' Trilogy at Vistancia, a 1,000-acre gated enclave built within the master-planned Vistancia community in Peoria, now is the single local example of a retirement community within a larger development.

"A growing number of people 55 and older don't want the seclusion of living in a community with only people their own age," said Deborah Blake, an expert on retirement and housing for Baby Boomers who has worked for Del Webb and other retirement developers.

Victory also will be the first active-adult community in Arizona to offer homes by multiple builders.

Blake said the house itself means more to Baby Boomers than it did to their parents and grandparents.

"Buyers in older active adult communities went there for the lifestyle first and homes second," Blake said. "Baby Boomer buyers want a lot more from their house — master bed and baths, lots of storage, large open living area and the best designs."

DMB is building the community center and the other amenities for Victory now and plans to offer 400 already-completed houses for sale by next fall. After that, DMB hopes to take the concept to its other communities, including Eastmark in Mesa.

"Sun City gave birth to a new period in life for retirees," said Marc Freedman, a Baby Boomer expert and CEO of San Francisco-based Encore.org. "Now, we are at a similar moment where a new idea of retirement is being born in the Phoenix area with Victory."

Living, working longer

Lou and Laura Wilkerson are in their 60s and working, with no plans to retire soon.

The couple moved to metro Phoenix seven years ago from Southern California for Lou's job in the computer-security industry. Before buying in Verrado, they looked for a house across the Phoenix area and ruled out moving into a Sun City or any other retirement community.

But now the Wilkersons are looking at making a move to Victory, less than a mile from their current home.

"We aren't slowing down and don't want to," Lou Wilkerson said. "This is the best time of our lives. We aren't ready to cash in the chips."

The Wilkersons could buy a house in Victory similar to the four-bedroom, three-bath house they currently own in Verrado.

In Victory, Laura could work out with other people 55 and older but still go to the Verrado swimming pool or rec center with her three children and four grandchildren when they visit from California.

"Victory won't be segregated from the rest of Verrado," said Laura, who works out at the Verrado recreation center six days a week. "We will still have easy access to the shopping and restaurants."

The Wilkersons both work from home part of the day. Lew is a computer consultant and Laura is a real-estate agent. Their schedules are flexible so they can walk the dog in the morning, ride their bikes after lunch or hit the gym whenever they have a break.

Final prices haven't been set for the first 400 houses. But early estimates have prices starting in the high $200,000s and going up from there depending on the size of the house and its amenities.

For the past decade, builders have been trying to figure out where the 76 million Baby Boomers want to live and what they want to do after age 55.

As Victory goes up on 1,200 acres within the 8,800-acre Verrado development in Buckeye, more than 1,000 active-adult communities are under way or on the drawing board nationally.

Housing analysts expect metro Phoenix's active-adult housing market to begin to attract more buyers in 2015-16.

Lars and Mary Grammacy are considering moving from Minnesota to metro Phoenix in the next few years. The couple, in their early 60s, want to spend their winters in the desert and summers in their current home, outside St. Paul. They are checking out active-adult communities in the Phoenix and Tucson areas.

"We have spent enough time working on our current home. We want a house ready to move into," he said. "Price is important to us, but we consider Arizona's new-home prices affordable."

Nick Taratsas, DMB senior vice president and general manager of Victory and a former Del Webb executive, said it was important to pick up cues from potential buyers, whose interests differ from generations before them.

"I watched my grandparents retire in the original Sun City, and that's not the lifestyle I want as a Baby Boomer," Taratsas said. "We started from almost scratch with Victory."

DMB's research found hiking and walking trails are more important to most Baby Boomers than a golf course, the longtime hallmark amenity of retirement communities. About 25 percent of people buying in active-adult communities now want golf courses, according to DMB's research.

Victory will have a golf course, but it will be designed so golfers can play six holes instead of investing four to five hours in an 18-hole round. And the course's green space will be used to create a scenic view from the clubhouse, its restaurant and spa-like workout center and pool.

The idea of other generations nearby is appealing, too.

"Most Baby Boomers want to live somewhere more diverse than the original Sun Cities. I do," said Anne Mariucci, a real-estate investor and former Del Webb president.

Victory communities could be launched in DMB's Eastmark community as well as in its developments near Lake Tahoe, across California and in Hawaii.

Del Webb spent almost $1 million to open Sun City in 1960, and now developers need to spend almost $100 million to build the infrastructure and amenities for a smaller active-adult community.

The company carrying on the Del Webb tradition already has changed its strategy from the original Sun City concept. Pulte's Phoenix-based Del Webb division is now developing smaller boutique retirement communities without the iconic name.

"When Del Webb created Sun City, it appealed to a middle-class lifestyle and people who wanted to retire on a modest budget," said Jacque Petroulakis of Pulte. "But now fast-forward to 2013, we are looking to provide a higher quality of life for a longer period of time."

She said Webb's recent research shows Baby Boomers don't want huge communities but more intimate places to live with a country-club atmosphere.

Pulte is about to open a new active-adult community on 200 acres north of Tucson called Dove Mountain by Del Webb. The original Sun City was developed on more than 9,000 acres.

Republic reporter Lesley Wright contributed to this article.