Gone are the days of the bare minimum. It’s no longer enough to give residents a cramped room, a sterile atmosphere or a collection of age-old rocking chairs. Young, vibrant, opinionated, next-generation older adults have more options than they’ve ever had, and if you want to stand out and provide your residents with a top-of-the-line experience, you’ll have to step it up.
Seniors want life. They want opportunities to be social with their friends. And what’s the best place for luxurious, fun socialization? You guessed it: a rooftop bar.
A rooftop bar represents everything that we fight for in senior living. It’s a fun common space for socialization. It’s an outlet for safe outdoor activities. It’s an extension of the luxury you may offer within the rooms. What good does it do to provide granite countertops in residents’ kitchens if the common spaces don’t share the same energy and luxury?
Our goal should be to provide aging adults with gratifying experiences, both in and out of their apartments. The problem is, more often than not, developers and operators focus more on the rooms and the interior experience of a community and fail to make the exterior as enjoyable. Nice greenery and plant life is nice, but it’s important to make exterior locations practical and useful, not just pretty.
A rooftop bar is a good investment, too. Adding a rooftop bar to your senior living property will raise the value of the community and development as a whole. The rooftop bar will attract more residents, making it easier for you to keep your community full of residents and full of life. Your sales and marketing team will be able to sell a lifestyle — the kind of lifestyle that includes vibrant enjoyment. When a potential resident considers two similar communities, the one with a rooftop bar will stand out.
For more urban communities, rooftop bars save space and provide opportunities for green areas within the community without spending more on land. Add some turf and beach chairs and your residents will gladly enjoy a mojito under the sun.
Rooftop bars are so adaptable. You can have play areas for children when the grandkids come to visit. Add dog-washing stations to attract residents with pets. A couple of ping pong tables can make for friendly competition, while a billiards room can be a simple yet fruitful investment. The opportunities are endless.
Soon enough, residents from other senior living communities will start to come by to your rooftop bar. Your residents’ children will want to come visit. A rooftop bar is one way to engage the community around your residents and make your community a focal point of those relationships.
Architects and designers must consider the changing desires and needs within the aging population. Older adults are more active, tech-savvy and modern than ever. For the right community, a rooftop bar is a lucrative and sensible addition that will add value to your development and enrich the lives of the residents you house.
Daniel Levy is president and founder of DKLEVY Architecture & Design Firm in Tennessee.
The opinions expressed in each McKnight’s Senior Living guest column are those of the author and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Senior Living.
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