A NOVEL RETIREMENT HOME CONCEPT Coimbatore

A novel retirement home concept

SOURCE  FROM  --
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/investment-world/article3315015.ece?
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Sreevatsa Comfort Homes helps the younger generation and senior citizens
live in harmony.

The Global Village would have nearly 448 dwellings, and the number of
residents could be around 1700.

Retirement homes or senior citizens' homes are increasingly becoming popular
among the well-heeled, at a time when nuclear homes are becoming the norm.
With daily chores like house keeping, cooking and paying utility bills taken
care of, and emergency medical care available at hand, life in such
facilities is easy for the elderly.

Such homes provide an opportunity for people of similar age group,
interests, and probably of economic status, to come together. The service
providers arrange entertainment and tours to ward off boredom for the
residents. But what many of the senior citizens miss is the warmth of
interacting with young children, the joy of watching the mischief and pranks
of children, mixing with people of different age groups inside their
residential complexes.

INTEGRATED COMMUNITY

A real estate developer in Coimbatore has sought to address this problem
through his project styled 'Sreevatsa Comfort Homes'. It is an integrated
community concept which provides an opportunity for the young and old to
live together while allowing each their space. A novel effort is a
centralised kitchen that will give all the residents the opportunity to do
away with a daily drudgery of cooking and clearing up.

Explaining the project details, Mr C. S. Ramaswamy, Managing Director,
Sreevatsa Real Estates Pvt Ltd, Coimbatore, said the gated community
project-styled Sreevatsa Global Village in Saravanampatti in Coimbatore has
two phases. The first phase of 43 villas and 80 luxury apartments is nearing
completion, and Sreevatsa Comfort Homes is planned as a second phase.

It would have luxury apartments of 3 bedrooms, of approximately 2000 square
feet in area, priced in the range of Rs 60 lakh.

This isn't a project exclusively designed for senior citizens, but one in
which they would be at-home, because many of the features that are designed
for the senior citizens could be provided for them on request.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Emphasising the focus on meeting the needs of senior citizens, Mr Ramaswamy
said the project is designed to offer senior citizens specific facilities
like wider doors to homes to facilitate wheelchair movements. The toilets
would come with anti-skid tiles, grab bars, and emergency alarms (on
request). The big lifts could accommodate stretchers (for easy evacuation of
patients to the hospital) or wheelchairs. Daily cleaning and mopping-up of
the floors would be done, and the central kitchen would serve normal or diet
food, depending on the needs of the residents. There would also be shuttle
services to and from the village to the city-centre.

The centralised kitchen can provide for a 1,000 people initially, and can be
scaled up to twice that size. The residents could come to the dining hall
for food or have it delivered at their homes for a minimum fee.

GLOBAL VILLAGE

The whole Global Village (including comfort homes) would have 448 dwellings
and the number of residents could be around 1700-2000, he estimated that a
minimum of 600-700 of them could use the kitchen food.

On cost sharing, he said to begin with, he would try to match the rates for
food with any comparable senior citizens' home in the city. With almost half
of the project booked, he expected the rest to be sold out because of the
novel concept. But the food service was not a profit-oriented activity, and
would be essentially a cost dividing system.

Mr Ramaswamy said the current thinking was to extend the food service to all
the projects done by his company in Coimbatore on Mettupalayam road and in
Saravanampatti and Kalapatti that have more than 1500 dwelling units. The
orders could be for food for three times a day, or for any specific time —
breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Explaining the reasons for adopting a new approach of integrated housing, he
said 'people have started telling we don't want to just move into senior
citizens' homes where everybody is a senior citizen!' The residents want a
mixed population. The project would have all the facilities that are
available in senior citizens' residential complexes. What comes extra
without being charged is the warmth and mischief of children!

Mr Ramaswamy was confident that the new concept he was trying would be
welcomed.