More and more seniors moving into apartments or duplex-style housing

Wednesday evening, Janet VanGennip played dominoes with fellow residents of her senior housing apartment complex. Today she plans to spend some of the morning celebrating residents' December birthdays in the community room at Jackson Senior Garden Apartments II.

A resident of the complex on East Main Street since it opened in 2004, VanGennip said the camaraderie is one reason the complex has become her home.

"This is like its own little town," VanGennip said. "We look after one another and do a lot of fun things together like the games we play. After living here, it would be hard for me to find another place like this one."

More and more seniors like VanGennip are choosing to move into apartments or duplex-style housing.

Mark Temple, an independent pollster from Dallas, said the area including Cape Girardeau and Jackson is in the top 10 percent among 50 areas nationwide surveyed recently about demand for senior housing.

Maxine Barrett, left, makes a point with Janet VanGennip during a game of Chicken Foot on Wednesday evening at Jackson Senior Garden Apartments II in Jackson.

Chad Hartle, who has developed four complexes in Jackson and one in Cape Girardeau, said all of his senior housing units are filled to capacity, with another 150 potential tenants on a waiting list. While the residents value such activities as birthday celebrations, potluck dinners and Halloween parties, a main reason for living in such developments is the affordable rent, he said.

Susan McClanahan, an administrator at the Cape Girardeau Senior Center, said more seniors are opting for that type of housing because of the low maintenance.

"A lot of them are downsizing," McClanahan said. "It takes more to heat or cool a bigger home, and the yardwork can create problems for some of them. They're seeing the value in exploring other living arrangements."

Rhonda Compas, a property manager for Lindenwood and Cape Garden Apartments in Cape Girardeau, said the almost daily upkeep of a home becomes too overwhelming for some seniors.

"As they get older and are on fixed incomes, they may sell their homes and downsize because they're no longer able to keep up with the maintenance," Compas said. "It gets expensive and becomes tiresome."

However, Compas said the majority of residents at her two senior housing apartment complexes have opted to live there because of the companionship.

"Instead of sitting in a building with four walls and no one to talk to, they instead want to be in a place where they can socialize all day and night," she said.

Developers believe the demand for such complexes will continue.

"As the baby boom population gets older, I think we'll have more and more tenants," Compas said. "Once these baby boomers retire, this area -- along with others -- will see a real need for more of this type of housing."

Hartle said his newest senior housing apartments in Cape Girardeau -- Schultz Senior Apartments -- are expected to open by mid-December. The former school building at 101 S. Pacific St. has been renovated to provide 45 units.

Hartle said more housing complexes in Cape Girardeau could follow.

"Many seniors have been on my waiting lists for years," Hartle said. "This is going to be a tremendous project for this area."

However, Hartle said the future of his senior housing development in Jackson, on an eight-acre tract at the intersection of Oak Hill Road and East Main Street, could be in jeopardy.

At its Nov. 16 meeting, the Jackson Board of Aldermen delayed a vote on rezoning the property for commercial use until Monday's meeting. Denis Wydra, a resident of 301 Oak Hill Road, voiced concern that if the land were rezoned commercial but the development was not built as planned, another undesirable business could be constructed near his home or his property value could decrease.

If the property is not rezoned, his application for state tax credits, which he relies on to build senior housing, will not be approved.

"I just hate the seniors are put in the middle of this," Hartle said. "Since Cape Girardeau and Jackson are so similar, the commission may decide to award future housing projects to Cape instead of Jackson. It could be five to 10 years before we could even see another senior housing complex here, and with the way demand is increasing, I'd hate to see that happen."

bblackwell@semissourian.com

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