By Hayden Spiess At first glance, mixing university students in their late teens and early 20s with senior living residents might seem too unconventional to succeed. “These are two completely different worlds,” concedes Andrew Carle, president of Carle Consulting. “You cannot find a bigger odd couple than bureaucratic universities focused on 20-year-olds and fast-moving senior living providers that are focused on 80-year-olds. Bringing those worlds together is hard.” Even so, the premise of university retirement communities (URCs) does exactly that, and Carle is one of the property type’s strongest proponents. More than 80 URCs are currently open throughout the U.S., according to UniversityRetirementCommunities.com, which is an online resource established and operated by Carle. The proliferation of these niche properties marks a stark contrast from a few decades ago, when the first URCs began to pop up. Those first communities included Meadowood at Indiana University, which opened in 1983, and Green Hills at Iowa State, which was built in 1986. Carle describes those two pioneering communities as “organically built” properties, rather than “intentionally built” URCs. “Most of the early ones were organically built,” explains Carle. “They didn’t even know what they were doing, frankly.” As interest in senior living communities …
