And the price tag? “Normally, when you have a community that has the amenities and the higher-end design that we have, you associate that with a $100,000 to $3-million buy-in,” says Barklow. “We didn't want to go that route, so we just did market-rate apartments. There's a $3,500 one-time community fee, and then it's month-to-month after that.”

The community is slightly more than 50% preleased—which, Barklow says, in senior housing is unheard of—and at the current rate, he expects it will be up to 90% preleased by the time it opens in mid-October.

“People are coming into the leasing office and asking to lease the biggest apartments we have, and they're surprised that the apartments they want are gone,” says Barklow.

Part of the reason for the demand is that the lack of luxury retirement communities in Orange County due to significant barriers to entry such as difficulty finding a large-enough piece of land to buy a community of this caliber. “There are huge issues with finding a good piece of property that's the right size for building a community like this,” says Barklow. “The land allows us to have so many more amenities in our community, such as the four beautiful exterior courtyards and a walking path. It allows us to be bigger than our competitors.”

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