When you think of college, you probably picture a cramped dorm and young people microwaving Ramen noodles. But a new model of campus living is coming to the lower Hudson Valley.
An under-construction senior housing development on the campus of Purchase College aims to give retirees a place to call home, facilitate lifelong learning, and leave an impact on younger students.
Ashley Wade has been working in senior housing for two decades. She says the Baby Boomer generation is “rewriting the script on aging.”
“They don't want a rocking chair and a front porch. They want to be engaged in lifelong learning. So, it became this kind of perfect mix, if you will, of saying like, how are we looking at older adults? And how are we going to continue to engage them in ways that go beyond a traditional kind of nursing home model.”
Wade is Executive Director of Broadview at Purchase College. This academic year, Broadview plans to welcome more than 300 seniors to its independent living complex on the public college campus in Westchester County.
With the first units coming online in October, there will be a variety of room types, from single-bedroom apartments all the way through single-family homes.
I joined Wade for a driving tour of the buildings under construction on a corner of the 500-acre campus.
“What we're looking at right now are the 46 villas. Now, the villas, there are four different floor plans, and they are all around 2,000 square feet. So they're really big,” said Wade.
“And I want to say that these, I mean, these look like homes, they don't look like…we're not talking about seniors moving into a dorm.”
“You're exactly right. You've nailed it. So, they look like houses because they are, I mean, they're 2,000 square feet houses, you can buy a 2,000-square foot house,” said Wade.
In addition to houses and apartments, an assisted living facility is also planned that will house up to 72 people.
The housing isn’t cheap; independent living units start at $325,000. But that hasn’t stopped seniors from signing up. Most of the units are spoken for.
79-year-old Steven Shelov and his wife put down the deposit on their new home at Broadview four years ago. The pandemic slowed their plans, but Shelov is ready to move to the Purchase campus in the spring.
“And we downsized from our house, which we sold, to an apartment to where we are now, which is about the same size to where we will move into,” said Shelov.
Because Broadview is located on a university campus, the complex is being touted as a way to connect seniors with more typical college-age students.
Shelov, a retired pediatrician, is professor emeritus of pediatrics and founding dean of what’s now called NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine.
“What I've read about getting old, since I guess I am in that category of getting old, is that it's important to keep your mind active, to following, if you can, a passion that you have, and continue to engage it in any way that you can. And mine has always been medicine and pediatrics, but medical education and bringing the next generation along, and so this was a perfect opportunity to continue to do that,” said Shelov.
Even though the Broadview villas and apartments have not yet opened, Shelov and a group of invited former physicians were preparing to hold a mentoring session with Purchase students on a pre-med track.
“I’m Medha, Medha Chandwani, and I’m a sophomore at Purchase College and I’m the president of Pre-Med Club.”
Medha Chandwani sees a benefit for students like herself to build connections with retired professionals from the field she’s interested in.
“When we're in college, we're kind of lost. We just know, ‘OK, we have to show up to these classes but what are we going to do with all this stuff that we're learning? So, this is a great way to shadow them, or like, talk to them, see what made them interested, and maybe something will spark,” said Chandwani.
Senior Suhani Kunam is Vice President of the Pre-Med Club.
“Even if I do know what I want to do in the future, I think this is a great way to kind of help gain guidance on how to approach that, how to build connections. And even if I'm not looking for, necessarily, how to plan my future, it's a great way just to learn to network with physicians and people who have knowledge of the field that I'm interested in going into,” said Kunam.
This mentoring session is the first of the year. A similar event was organized last semester by Shelov. He says he wants to help students make connections or apply to higher education, but it’s not meant to replace alumni networks or any available teaching or services on campus.
“We’re not teaching the basic sciences; they are so valuable and important here. But what we are doing is giving them a little bit of supplemental boost to their job quest, their future career, that our experience would be more than happy to do,” said Shelov.
Purchase College President Milly Peña says she’s seen the benefits of intergenerational learning first-hand.
“I actually grew up in a multi-generational household. There was nothing more vibrant beyond reading about the Great Depression than to hear from my grandmother what it was actually like,” said Peña.
Peña became college president in 2020, when planning for Broadview was already underway. Beyond its educational value to students and seniors, Peña says Broadview will also benefit Purchase financially.
“So, the lease of the land is actually going to generate $2 million a year that will go, 75 percent will go to support scholarships, to TAP-eligible students, and 25 percent will go towards supporting faculty,” said Peña.
Broadview is the only university-based retirement community in New York. Broadview Executive Director Ashley Wade says there are about 60 similar models nationwide.
While price may be a barrier, Wade says Broadview has the potential to bring experiences and offerings to older adults who live off-campus.
“So, I think what generally happens, and certainly what Broadview will reach out and do and say, ‘This is the experience for people that live here, but we want to also be able to extend the reach into the wider world, as well.’ Right? So, when possible, open up programs and opportunities to a population that doesn't live here,” said Wade.
