Though housing sales are slowing, one developer is planning nearly 1,000 new residential units for a growing Fairfax County market: seniors.
Peterson Companies has proposed 989 “age-qualified” condo and villa units within the Dulles Discovery project on Route 29. Homeowners can be no younger than 55, and no permanent residents below the age of 18 are allowed.
It’s hardly a niche market in a county projecting that its population of 55-to-64-year-olds will expand by nearly 20,000 people in the next 10 years. Jim Todd, president of Peterson Companies, said he expects developers to become increasingly interested in building age-qualified units.
“Our aging working population is a very strong part of the growth. That’s why you see builders going that way,” he said.
The communities offer another benefit to a builder: No kids. During a rezoning, developers typically offer up cash or other contributions to a county in exchange for a desired building density. Since an age-qualified development won’t add thousands of new students, a firm can avoid paying for impacts to the school system.
Todd emphasizes that the distinction between these units and a retirement community is that many of the occupants will remain part of the work force.
The units are part of a mixed-use rezoning proposal that will come before the Fairfax County Planning Commission in November.
Altogether, Peterson Companies has planned 2,500 age-qualified units throughout Maryland and Virginia, said Jeff Saxe, the firm’s senior vice president of planning.
Bob Eiffert, director of senior and specialized housing in the Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development, said he agreed that the demand for senior housing is growing along with the aging population.
“There is no question that we expect growth in the number of seniors who are looking for housing,” he said.