Retirement News : Seniors : Senior living, arts complex to open soon

Senior living, arts complex to open soon

Date Added: 11-03-2005

BURBANK- Burbank is set to unveil what's believed to be the first development of its kind in the nation - a housing and arts colony for entertainment-industry retirees, and seniors with a creative side.
The $22 million, 141-unit Senior Artists Colony is scheduled to open by late March, boasting facilities that will allow those 55 and older to be artistically engaged.

"Senior projects are plagued with people who feel they're not needed by anybody else anymore. But this is the perfect opportunity for people who have been active in the arts to do it in their older years and to teach it to people who want to learn," said John Huskey, president of developer Meta Housing Corp.

The development at San Fernando Boulevard and Verdugo Avenue will include a 40-seat theater and projection room; video- and film-editing bays; a studio for fine-arts activities such as painting, sculpture and poetry; and live-performance spaces along with a computer lab, game room and library.

Seniors will be able to take part in group activities like a resident theater group and film-production company.

More than Shelter for Seniors, a nonprofit public benefit corporation that serves seniors throughout Southern California, will provide all the arts programs and classes.

"It's a no brainer that if you eat healthy, exercise, have a positive attitude and are engaged, you live a longer life ... and the arts is one of the easiest ways to get people to engage or to stay engaged," said Tim Carpenter, executive director of the nonprofit group.

"The Artists Colony provides a place for people to do what they love, to dust off their dreams and to become creative - and for those people who have already been doing that their whole life - to continue to make music and to write."

Huskey said the response has been overwhelming. Thousands of people have requested information on the development or to be placed on the waiting list for one of the 42 affordable housing units. The remaining units will be rented at market value. High-quality senior projects like the Artists Colony raise the bar for all senior housing, Carpenter said.

"I've been working in senior housing for 10 years and since then the change is astronomical," Carpenter said. "When I came into this, it was about offering Bingo and doughnuts, but you can't get a project like that off the ground today in any city in America because the expectation is much higher."

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