Why does the rest of the world want to look like Sarasota?

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There's an intriguing international trend swap going on when it comes to deciding where and how the world's growing number of "third-agers" can best enjoy meaningful and comfortable lives.

This term refers loosely to elders who surpass the limits of current human life expectancy, which in the United States is about 79 years and rising. While longevity can and does yield unexpected pleasures, it's also around this time that health issues can make it difficult to negotiate the routines of daily life.

Japan, famously, leads the world in life expectancy at 84 years. Cultural shifts there -- away from family care and multigenerational households -- have given rise to an explosive boom in elder housing, with U.S. companies flocking there to build. This means that while our policymakers seek ways to support family caregivers and help Americans age in place, the rest of the world is looking to become more like us.

Sarasota's retirement centers have played host to visitors from all over, including just recently a Korean TV crew. And a local architect, Michael Carlson, is working with a developer from Finland on a nursing home in Helsinki and a retirement community in Fuengirola, Spain. Who knew that southern Spain is to the Finns what Florida is to retirees from New England and the Midwest?

Carlson took the team from Finland on a tour of Plymouth Harbor and Pines of Sarasota, to show them the range of elder housing here.

"They like the hospitality industry look to things now," Carlson says. "This is very much not your parents' assisted-living facilty; it's very much more like a hotel."

The living units in the Spanish project will be cozy by our standards -- apartments of 600 to 800 square feet. "They're happy with smaller spaces," Carlson notes. And as with our elder communities, the challenge is finding a workable balance between private living areas and common amenities, like coffee shops and bars.

"One thing they definitely want to do, that's cultural for them, is to devote plenty of space to the spas and saunas," Carlson says.

Shiny new Freedom

As the rest of the world figures out how to look more like Southwest Florida, the retirement communities here

This updated dining room at Freedom Village, a continuing-care retirement community in Bradenton, is part of a $4 million renovation project on the campus that opened in 1985. COURTESY PHOTO

This updated dining room at Freedom Village, a continuing-care retirement community in Bradenton, is part of a $4 million renovation project on the campus that opened in 1985. COURTESY PHOTO

that blazed trails decades ago are reinvesting in their properties to reflect generational shifts in taste as well as new needs -- especially memory care. Freedom Village in Bradenton, which opened its doors in 1985, is in the midst of a $4 million overhaul that emphasizes the "hospitality industry" style that Carlson refers to.

An upgraded dining room was recently opened. Also undergoing substantial facelifts are the original campus building, Colonial building, and nursing center. A spokesman for the Brookdale continuing-care retirement community said the Colonial building will be complete in late October, and the nursing home renovations will begin soon afterward.

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Barbara Peters Smith

Barbara Peters Smith covers aging issues for the Sarasota Herald Tribune. She can be reached by email or call (941) 361-4936.
Last modified: July 31, 2015
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