Business Spotlight: The Retired Life

Retirement dreamers may have their hearts set on a house along a creek or by a lake, yet the reality of aging might require caring friends and a support system to sustain well-being.

Both dimensions come into focus at Creekside at Elfindale, a 62-acre wooded retirement community for independent living that offers separate cottages as well as all-inclusive lodge apartments in central Springfield.

Two staff members dedicated to life enrichment organize activities and resident gathering opportunities, and they encourage the approximately 170 residents to create their own social lives, such as involvement in a writers group or an event in the clubhouse near the lake around which 72 cottages stand. An additional 32 cottages follow the creek that runs through the property, and the lodge has 68 apartments.

“We offer as many choices as we can and make it their choice,” Executive Director Kimberley Lippelman says. “We want them to have that control.”

The Howard Stancer Group-built Creekside opened in 1987 near Sunshine Street and Fort Avenue, and 11 years later, current owners Elkhorn, Neb.-based Vetter Health Services entered into a lease-purchase agreement. Vetter also owns and operates the nearby Manor at Elfindale, a 96-bed skilled nursing facility equipped with an Alzheimer’s unit.

Creekside lodge apartments run $2,185 to $3,700 per month, including three daily meals, housekeeping, utilities, cable television and transportation. Cottage leases cost $1,045 to $1,675 per month, with choices of six floor plans varying from 870 square feet to 1,135 square feet and varied finishes, including granite countertops and tile floors. Amenities can be added on an a la carte basis.

Bob and Jacquie Mantle have lived in a two-bedroom lakeside cottage for two years.

“The first impression was the outlay – the stream, the well-kept streets and yards,” Bob Mantle says of the retirement community, noting he’s receiving good value for the money invested for the Creekside experience. “It looked more like a neighborhood.”

Mantle worked in maintenance for Southwestern Bell in Illinois, and more recently the couple ran a woodworking enterprise, making crafts for Dollywood and Silver Dollar City.

Leaving her home of 22 years in rural Reeds Spring was difficult for Jacquie Mantle. “But the longer we’ve been here, the more comfortable it is, and the better I feel about it,” she says. “I love being able to look out at the lake.”

Adjusting to residents
A noted trend is that home health care services are extending retirees’ stays in their own homes, and allowing residents to remain in independent living quarters longer before assisted living or skilled nursing is required, Lippelman says.

As a result, Creekside now serves an older population. The average move-in age is 82 says Reta Cagle, a resident care coordinator.

In response, Creekside has changed to a restaurant dining format from a cafeteria style for residents’ convenience. A room in the dining area was repurposed for parking walkers and canes to facilitate foot traffic around tables.

Looking ahead, Lippelman says the biggest challenge for Creekside and the industry at large is to serve the current generation of residents while preparing for the baby boomers.

“They’re a big-choice generation, and that’s going to drive us to change with them,” she says, noting new expectations for surroundings, services and options. Among the changes she foresees is continued upgrading of the 25-year-old building that houses apartments and offices, as well as new activities designed to keep residents more physically and mentally active.

Occupancy
Creekside’s occupancy rate has hovered around 85 percent in recent years, Lippelman says, slightly less than the third-quarter national average of 88.8 percent reported by the Annapolis, Md.-based National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing and Care Industry. The national rate has improved for 10 straight quarters from its 2010 low of 87 percent, the center reports.

Lippelman has noticed more inquiries and tours, but she says the numbers do not yet indicate an increase in occupancy. Creekside no longer has a lengthy waiting list, Cagle says, noting the community lost 35 residents to death last year.

Some Springfield seniors who have seen little improvement in home values since the 2008 real estate crisis have chosen not to wait any longer to move into retirement communities, says Teresa Hall, a retirement housing specialist for Century 21 Integrity Group and a developer of retirement communities. Hall was the original operator of Creekside.

“I don’t think we’re overbuilt in our community, and the need just continues to grow,” says Hall, who is spearheading 55-plus community Autumn Corners at Copper Leaf in Nixa, where the last six condo homes are under construction.

Now in its 25th year, Creekside has impacted the area economy not only in a residential aspect, but also employment. With 39 employees, Creekside has paid wages of $707,000 this year through Nov. 30, and funded $195,000 in employee benefits. The development also has paid $106,000 in real estate taxes.

Cagle says she derives great satisfaction from working with elders.

“Sometimes, we work really hard, but we get so much back,” she says. “They appreciate us so much, just the smallest little things we do. It makes us feel good every day.”