Age-Restricted Properties Being Phased Out

At the turn of this century, there was a fad among developers: 55-and-over developments. With the population aging, the market boomed, cresting in about 2004.

Then, it dropped off. Now, experts contend that there is almost no market for 55-and-over developments, with several developers asking for towns to drop the restriction in their zoning regulations.

“There was a small window for that market,” Farmington developer Mark Steiner told Patch in an earlier interview. “And it just isn’t there anymore.”

The 55-and-older age restriction mandates that residents must be at least 55 years old to buy a property in that zoning area.

Why?

The problem is that the market is so narrow, according to Brian Miller, a former town planner and now a consultant on economic development in towns. Miller said the average age for people who buy into that type of community is over 70, and it is becoming less and less popular to live in communities where everybody is in the same age.

Several developers have since asked for the restriction to be written out of town’s zonings regulations. In the town of Ledyard for example, there are regulations for the one and only 55-and-over community, Stonegate Village, and developers are trying to change that.

Third Garden Park, the Stamford-based property management company that owns Stonegate Village, is trying to lift the age-restriction from the retirement community. The company cited "anemic sales" on their application and

Residents living in Stonegate Village now say and that they could enjoy the company of peers also in the same phase of their lifetime.

Stonegate Village hasn’t sold a home for at least a year and the community is less than half developed.

“Changing times and trends have shown locally and nationally that age-restricted communities are often not in the best interest of the community” wrote Matt Berger, a New London lawyer representing a developer who wanted the regulation lifted in Waterford.