Moving On:

Urban Nesters Head Downtown

By Ellen Britz Gerber

An Empty Nesting Dilemma
Let’s see. I could move south, to warmer climes, golf, and tennis. That’s what Gail and Alan did after they became empty nesters. Or, I could go north—mountain hiking, skiing, lots of wildlife and fresh air. That would be nice. Or, actually, I could stay right here in the ‘burbs. I’m certainly comfortable here, have my friends, my shops. Not too far from the city. The city . . . maybe I could go there. . . .

Welcome to the thoughts that preceded my move to Manhattan. I understand there’s nothing earth shattering about this. Most empty nesters go through similar exercises before settling on a course for the future. What is noteworthy, however, is that my chosen destination has traditionally attracted adults before they settled down with children, pets, and the subsequent car pools. Of even greater note? I’m not alone.

According to an oft-cited survey by adult community developer Del Webb, 55% of surveyed respondents said they will move when they retire. Of those, 30% said they prefer an urban location. And although that statistic actually represents only 2% of all empty nesters, the sheer numbers inherent in the baby boom generation make this particular population shift hard to ignore.

What are we urban nesters looking for? The last time I resided in New York my apartment was burglarized three times, Central Park looked as forbidding as Hell’s Kitchen, and tickets to the theater meant running the gauntlet of peep shows, porn flicks, and sleazy come-ons. Then why did I—and so many others—decide to come back?

From New York and Philadelphia to San Francisco, from Las Vegas to Atlanta, there’s a new ambience beckoning, characterized more by outdoor cafés than by shuttered storefronts, by farmers’ markets than by drug deals, and by adult education classes than by techniques of self-defense.

The exact number of empty nesters moving downtown is hard to nail down. Some of us just expand our horizons. We rent or purchase a pied-à-terre, a second home, and slip into our urban cloaks on weekends and holidays. Others, like me, take the leap and move lock, stock, and barrel into the new enclave. According to a study published by William Frey, a leading demographer from the Brookings Institution, cities across the nation have experienced increases in their pool of 55- to 64-year-olds, most apparent in places such as Portland, Oregon, which has seen an increase of 92% in this demographic, and Washington, D.C., which has seen a similar increase of 81%.

Just what do we urban nesters want from our cities? Have we found it? How easy is the transition? I decided to take a look beyond my own experience to arrive at the reasons so many of us have decided to set off for downtown and to understand what some of these metropolitan havens offer that has so completely engrossed us.

New York City
In the past decade, New York City has undergone a complete makeover. It has metamorphosed from one of the most forbidding cities in the country to one of the most appealing; the city now boasts one of the lowest crime rates of any of the major metropolitan areas. However, it’s doubtful that freedom from crime is what drives empty nesters to spend more than $1000 per square foot to settle here.

It wasn’t too long ago that the purchase of a condo was the goal of first-time, low-income home buyers who couldn’t afford the more desirable suburban detached home. Today, that same condo may have quadrupled in cost and grown out of reach for all but the most well-heeled—or for those who’ve cashed in on their suburban dream house. Empty nesters, freed from the costs of child care, student loans, or extra-curricular activities, find themselves able to sell that now empty house and apply the money to a downtown apartment that was previously too expensive. That’s just what New York City resident Pat Donna did.

“We were lucky,” stated Donna, a part-time nurse who sold before the current meltdown at a price that allowed her and her husband to purchase in Manhattan. “When you get older,” she continued, “homes get very difficult to manage.” By moving into an apartment, “you don’t have to get on the ladder and paint the house anymore. You don’t have to climb a ladder to cut the trees. It’s a lifestyle change.”

It is a change that many find easy to make. Have a leaky faucet? Call the super. Air conditioning not working? Call the super. Lights went out? Right, call the super. Multiunit housing offers an ease of living that is hard to match in a single home. But that is only one of the many differences that await urban nesters. Whereas suburban neighborhoods often boast similar family configurations, income levels, and ethnicities, urban communities almost broadcast diversity as a theme song. A stroll through New York’s Central Park will often immerse you in a flood of foreign languages—a joy for some and off-putting to others. Of course, it is the “stroll” rather than the “car ride” that makes the diversity so apparent, which brings to mind another major change awaiting urban transplants: becoming a pedestrian.

In upper Westchester County, where Donna previously resided, “you have to drive to everything you do.” For Donna, “that got old fairly quickly. I’d rather take the money from two cars and put it into one apartment.” Many of the people interviewed felt the same.

Raleigh, North Carolina
A longing to get out of the car and take to the sidewalks was a consistent factor in many people’s choice to move, as it was for Heather Brink, a resident of Raleigh, North Carolina. You’d think Brink had found nirvana when you listen to her describe life in downtown Raleigh. “It’s been a major lifestyle change.” Instead of spending weekends tending to a suburban house and yard, according to Brink, “We go out to dinner, the theater, concerts. Dancing!! We haven’t danced in 20 years.” Instead of feeling deprived of the pleasures of a beautiful, large house and carefully manicured lawn, Brink seems to revel in her newfound freedom. “We can walk to everything. And, every Sunday, we ride our bikes around different parts of Raleigh, investigating the city. We are the happiest we’ve ever been.”

Car-less living. It is one of the prime pleasures cited by many transplants and one that many urban planners place at the crux of development. According to Jim Belt, a retired financial consultant now living in Raleigh, local developers are subject to a host of rules intended to enhance the pedestrian experience. “Parking lots cannot be located on the first floor of a building; first floor storefronts must have street front windows, residences must be above the first floor. They want the pedestrian experience to be an interesting visual experience.” What Belt describes is a variation on the principle of mixed-use development, an approach that has been adopted by many urban planners. Raleigh, with its more than 130 bars, restaurants, and coffee shops, is a prime example. As delineated on the Web site of the Raleigh Downtown Alliance, an organization devoted to the area’s enhanced growth, the urban lifestyle should be characterized by several factors: seeing the city as your living room, reducing one’s physical possessions, achieving a healthier lifestyle through walking, reaching for a more sustainable environment, reducing the daily commute, and, finally, gaining exposure to a more diverse community.

Raleigh’s determination to restore and rejuvenate its downtown is visible on more than its streets. There are outdoor movies and concerts, as well as the Moore Square Farmer’s Market. And although Belt initially moved to Raleigh to be closer to his children, his decision to stay is based on much more. As he stated, “Raleigh is booming.” That may be an understatement. More than 2,600 residential units are already planned or under construction—a building “boom” that will effectively double the current downtown population. Raleigh, though at present a relatively small city, is assured of its place as an urban magnet.

Chicago
Chicago is anything but small. These days, when you think of Chicago, it is Millennium Park, the Lake Michigan waterfront, and that oh-so-beautiful skyline that often come to mind. But that’s not even half the story.

With 29 miles of lakefront paths, an architectural landscape that astonishes at every turn, and some of the best restaurants in North America, Chicago bills itself as one of the world’s most walkable and beautiful cities—an assertion difficult to refute. Yet for many empty nesters, the transition to downtown remains difficult. Still enmeshed in the pleasures of that “other” lifestyle (the beautiful house so lovingly decorated, the garden gently tended, and the friends whose children grew up alongside your own), many of us are torn between an old way of living and the potential to start anew.

Alan Shultz, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Gold Coast Office, sees many empty nesters making the transition cautiously. “Very often they start with a weekend place,” he explained. “They tell me they’re making this move for the view or the amenities or the convenience. Then, once they find that golden view or the perfect pool—or the perfect trainer—they’ll buy the two-bedroom apartment.”

As mentioned earlier, one enticement that often seals the deal is a city’s walkability, that part of the urban landscape that satisfies many people’s desire to “walk to work.” That’s what drove Rosemary Gullikson, an attorney who owns a pied-à-terre in Chicago and a house in the Chicago suburb of Wheaton, to purchase an apartment downtown. “It used to take me 40 minutes to commute to work.” Now, Gullikson not only can walk to work but also can spend time riding her bike near the lake and sampling the fare at area restaurants. However, selling her house is not yet part of her plan. “I still like my neighbors, my house. I’d miss my garden.”

Gullikson’s hesitation is fairly common. Many empty nesters choose to greet their new phase of life in stages. Giving up the house you’ve occupied for the past 20 to 30 years, a house filled with the detritus of childhoods left behind and families diminished, is no easy task. (For more on relocating while empty-nesting, see “Rightsizing for Empty Nesters: It’s an Art,” also in this issue.) Linda Chinn and her husband, who have moved in and out of Chicago multiple times since 1990, have always had another dwelling in which to store their “stuff.” But they’re ready now. “Chicago is such an exciting place to live,” says Chinn. For her, that excitement is right beyond the door. “We look out at Millennium Park and if there’s an event going on, we just head over to it.”

According to real estate agent Shultz, the development of the east side around Michigan Avenue, as well as the Museum Park area, is directly targeted at empty nesters. “People who move into these buildings have chosen to spend money on the symphony, the opera, the theater, restaurants. These buildings, with all their amenities, cost money. Empty nesters are not coming downtown to rough it.” And, as Shultz stated, wherever the empty nesters go, so go the boutiques and service industries. “Folks move first and the other things follow. We’ve gotten more restaurants, more services—more renovators. A lot of businesses simply follow the people.” We empty nesters are both the beneficiaries of the urban renaissance and its prime movers. Not a bad role to play.

A number of constants ran throughout the interviews. Urban nesters prefer to walk. Urban nesters want convenience. Urban nesters spend money. It is unclear how much the current economic slowdown will affect this trend, but obviously the drop in housing prices will change some homeowners’ plans. The good news is, of the people interviewed, not one regretted their decision. My hope as an urban dweller is that the trend continues and that the renaissance that’s taken hold will burgeon in the decades ahead.

Links
For more about urban nesting:
Chicago Real Estate: CBExchange and Robert John Anderson
New York City Real Estate
Raleigh Downtown Alliance
10 Best Cities for Empty Nesters and other Empty Nesting info: Forbes.com