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Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel Kennebec Journal Morning Sentinel
MAINE'S AGING BOOMERS Developers respond as boomers become seniors New retirees' housing needs challenge communities
Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 02/18/2008

Second in a four-day series.

From staff reports

Tobey Levine moved back to a town that still felt like home, 35 years after she left Farmington to build a career and raise her children in Boston and New York.

But what the 57-year-old nurse did not find in Farmington was housing to fit her lifestyle.

"Everything is either too big or too old," said Levine, who plans to keep working well into her 60s, but wants to be able to visit her children out of state without having to worry about frozen pipes or an overgrown lawn.

Willow Springs, a development of condominiums slated to begin rising this spring on the site of the former Maine Dowel Mill on Main Street, is perfect, said Levine: low maintenance and close to services like a hospital and the University of Maine at Farmington.

With millions of baby boomers -- those born between 1946 and 1964 -- preparing for new phases of their lives (think working retirement, but not shuffleboard), Maine cities like Waterville, Augusta and Farmington face both challenges and opportunities.

Boomers -- there are roughly 80 million of them nationwide -- have the potential to dramatically alter housing trends as they sell their three-bedroom houses in the suburbs for new homes more in keeping with both their active lifestyles and the encroaching realities of age.

With hospitals, colleges and plenty of housing within walking distance of conveniences, old mill towns like Waterville and Augusta that lost population to the suburbs in past decades are well positioned for a rebirth.

"What is coming and what planners are looking at is a senior tsunami," said David Goldberg, of Smart Growth America, a coalition of national, state and local organizations that works to improve planning in towns and cities.

Baby boomers, although most are still years away from retirement, are part of that demographic shift, said Goldberg.

Some of those boomers will settle on hobby farms in rural areas but many will gravitate to urban areas, said Goldberg.

Walkable city centers are a draw, as well as university access and recreational opportunities like skiing, kayaking or hiking and biking trails.

Varied housing will also be important, said Goldberg.

"We have to think in terms of mixed uses and having homes that are affordable to both baby boomers who (are affluent) as well as baby boomers who are on fixed incomes," he said.

In Augusta, Michael Duguay, director of economic and community development, believes his city is already in the early stages of boomer-inspired growth.

An inflow of boomers could be a boon for the state capital, believes Duguay, reversing decades of population outflow, bringing new life to waterfront that in places, at least, is dominated by derelict industrial structures and to a downtown that has been left behind as retail has exploded on the city's outskirts.

"The question you have to raise, not just for Augusta but every community, is 'Are you going to be ready for it?' " said Duguay. "If you are not readying the foundation now, you may not catch the wave coming through."

Augusta is doing what it can to be ready.

The city is linking trail systems, creating a river side park on the site of the old Edwards Mill and taking the first steps toward redeveloping the old American Tissue mill in a move that could replace a blighted industrial hulk on the east side of the Kennebec River with housing or mixed-use development.

The stakes for the capital city are huge, the choice between a vibrant downtown and a decaying city center surrounded by sprawling retail development on the outskirts.

Duguay believes the city is well-positioned.

Thousands of state employees are nearing retirement age and Duguay said Augusta's challenge is to attract both the retiring employees and the younger people who will replace them.

Duguay said developing a robust downtown is a key part of that effort.

"I think people who are in that baby boomer group, they have an affection for what they remember growing up and I think what they are looking for is a vibrant downtown that has entertainment," he said.

Drawing businesses to the downtown means attracting people, but Duguay believes that after losing about 13 percent of its population between 1990 and 2000, Augusta is poised to grow again.

In the last year or so, Duguay said developers have proposed roughly 250 units of housing, everything from lower to mid-income homes, to townhouse condominium for mid to high income levels.

"We are seeing a new wave of people coming to us," said Duguay.

The future will be centered around the Kennebec River, said Duguay, once an industrial asset, but increasingly a focal point for recreation.

"I think it will sort of be discovering for the first time what has always been there," he said.

Alan Caron, president of GrowSmart Maine, said the aging of the boomers is only one of a confluence of factors that could bring a renaissance to towns and cities in Maine.

Higher gas prices and the relatively low cost of living in towns and cities is already attracting older people and 20-somethings to towns like Sanford, Biddeford, Saco and Portland, and Caron said that movement is moving north along Maine's rivers.

"We are ending up with these great mixtures in downtowns of 20 somethings and baby boomers," said Caron. "You are seeing the leading edge of this change really happening around the older river mill communities."

Boomers are attracted to these cities because of the kind of services and cultural amenities they can offer within a short distance, he said.

"I think what baby boomers want is exactly what Maine towns and cities have always provided, which is close-knit walkable neighborhoods and services," said Caron.

And with large unused mills and underutilized housing stock, Caron said towns and cities are poised to take advantage of the growth.

The key is getting people into downtowns and the key to that, he said, is to change restrictions that have eliminated whole categories of housing from the center of Maine cities.

Setback requirements, parking requirements and limitations on the size and types of housing units have made it impossible to build the kind of housing that defines walkable city centers, he said.

The towns and cities that will benefit most from baby boomers and other trends are those that start working now to make it possible to rebuild the housing stock that once existed in downtowns.

As more people move to Maine, developing that flexibility will become even more important, he said.

"It is vital that we find a way to accommodate more growth in our towns and cities or we are going to loose the rural character of our state," said Caron.

For developers, the old mill buildings that line rivers in many of the state's towns and cities offer a potent mix of history, solid construction and prime location.

Rhode Island developer Paul Boghossian and his partner Thomas Niemann, of North Carolina, plan to turn the 236,000-square foot Hathaway shirt factory into a mix of retail, commercial and residential space.

Two adjacent mill buildings would also be purchased under the plan.

A total of 66 apartments would be created in the building, which overlooks the Kennebec River in downtown Waterville.

Even before the sale went through, Boghossian said he had a list of more than 130 names of people who have expressed interest in an apartment.

"We see the demographics of people interested in Hathaway as essentially bookends," said Boghossian.

On one end are younger people who do not have kids and don't necessarily want to be home owners. On the other are older people whose children are grown and who are tired of shoveling snow and cleaning gutters.

"One of the really compelling things about the Hathaway is it is downtown. If it were a mile from the downtown, it would not be nearly as interesting," said Boghossian.

Convenience is important, but so is security, and the fact that the amenities of the downtown -- restaurants, a theater and stores -- are within easy walking distance.

"To be able to walk to places where there are thing to do is really important," said Boghossian. "I think we are going to see a resurgence of interest in downtowns."

The presence of Colby College is also a plus.

"They want to be in a place where there is a cultural buzz and they also want to be in a place where it is small enough that they can make a difference," he said.

Byron "Buzz" Davis and Bill Marceau chose the site of the former Maine Dowel Corp. on Farmington's Main Street for Willow Springs, a 67-unit development designed for active adults.

Construction on the first phase of the project is due to start in the spring.

Because the site was littered with old buildings and wood and metal waste, Marceau and Davis had to remove more than 400 tons of wood waste and 200 tons of scrap metal to clear the site.

They chose the old industrial site because of the location -- about two miles from the traffic lights in downtown Farmington, adjacent miles of walking trails and within an hour of prime skiing.

Because all of the units are condominiums, the development offers a combination of a low-maintenance lifestyle with plenty of opportunities for physical activity and cultural events, and that is what their research indicates their customers will want said Davis.

"Their free time is their own. They don't have chores to do all of the time," said Davis.

Alan Crowell -- 474-9534, Ext. 342

acrowell@centralmaine.com

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