Why do grandparents need to have all the fun?
Many Gen X home buyers are just as obsessed with pickle balls, spa services and wine clubs as their boomer counterparts, with national home builders responding.
Pulte joined Taylor Morrison to expand on Active Adult Brand to create a community of all ages with the same fascinating combination of facilities and programming. The country’s third largest home builder announced on March 3 that the unretired Del Webb explored the spin-off, with the first two resort-style communities being planned in Southern California and Tampa Bay.
This phenomenon is on the way to the Orlando area.
“We are seeing Gen X convergence reaching a refined year in which refined tastes are shaped by decades of travel and lifestyle experience,” Pultegroup president and CEO Ryan Marshall said in the announcement. “The expansion of the Ageless Del Webb brand means we can offer our products to people, regardless of age, who are eager to have a vibrant, active lifestyle.”
Pulte cited a market research that found several factors were driving overlap of interest between traditional boomer buyers at Del Webb and today’s Gen X Consumers, ages 45-60.
A Pulte survey showed that 40% of potential Del Webb buyers wanted a well-known active lifestyle for the brand, but there is no limit to having to be over 55. These buyers cited multiple reasons, including that older children live together, that they need to care for their grandchildren, that they are younger than traditional active adult buyers, and that they want to live around people of all ages.
At North River Ranch, between Tampa and Sarasota, Pulte’s new all-age community has 900 homes and amenity packages that include a lazy river, covered pickle coats, and a private clubhouse with a poolside bar and grills.
Pulte currently has four Del Webb 55+ communities active in development in Central Florida, Sunbridge, Minneola, Horizon West and Twin Lakes. Another two are planned in a wellness way, and so far. The Orlando division has not said whether any of the last two will become Del Webb Explore.
The new Explore brand should not be confused with Pulte’s resort division, which focuses solely on the community of villas, such as Windsor Cay, which allows short-term rentals. The new brand is for permanent residents who want a resort lifestyle with concierge services.
Kenpozek of Orlando Real called it a smart move. “There are a lot of Gen Xers who don’t want to be associated with active adults or older than 55,” he said. “They want everything the village has to offer. They don’t want to say, ‘I’m in that age bracket.’ So I think that it’s not age restricted, which brings a wide range of people. ”
Taylor Morrison introduced the Esplanade brand 12 years ago, with the first community in Clermont, including the sold-out Esplanade. However, in recent years the company has pivoted to reposition the Esplanade brand. Taylor Morrison has four Esplanade communities, combined with over 2,300 homes in the Central Florida Development Pipeline, with no age limit.
“Esplanade is not an active adult brand, it’s a resort lifestyle brand,” division president Brian Brunhofer told Growth Spotter. “The design of the house and amenities corresponds to living like you’re on a holiday every day.”
All Esplanade communities offer concierge services to residents, including wine clubs, dry cleaning services, dog walks, private concerts, and dedicated travel and resort experiences.
Taylor Morrison is building the Esplanade community in McKinnon Groves of Wellness Way, Center Lake Ranch in St. Cloud, and Westview in Poinciana.
This month, Arizona-based Homebuilder announced that it will add an Esplanade neighborhood to Waterstone, a unit development for a mixed-use mascot plan approved for 2,500 homes and 250,000 square feet of non-residential use. Taylor Morrison is an exclusive community home builder. Waterstone’s Esplanade, scheduled to open in 2027, has 900 lots, making it the largest of the four brand community.
These new resort community products will be hybrids to traditional active adult floor plans with large homes suitable for families with multiple generations and children.
The Esplanade at Center Lake Ranch is designed as an active adult community, offering villas and one-storey homes with almost two- and three-bedroom floor plans. However, it is no longer an age limit, so builders now have to pay $12,000 impact fees for Osceola County home schools. Taylor Morrison also needs to pay higher mobility fees for St. Cloud, which are about $10,000 more per home than as an “active adult” community.
At Westview, the mobility fee will be $21,710 per home with the new fee. It’s almost $15,000 more than if the community had been age-restricted.
Pulte’s products seem to be a combination of the most popular Del Webb and standard home designs. Pulte offers a modified version of the Del Webb floor plan with an optional second floor to accommodate guests and extended families. Builders use the same strategy in Del Webb Explore Community in California.
Manish Shrivastava, chief marketing officer at Pultegroup, said the new brand also incorporates several features from the company’s Divosta brand, which is developing more upscale resort lifestyle communities in premium coastal locations in South Florida, such as Naples and Palm Beach.
“As pioneering resort-style living, we have invested a great deal of resources to understand what the next generation of Del Webb buyers want and what they lack,” he said. “By combining the best elements of the Del Webb and Divosta brand with fresh consumer insights from today’s HomeBuyer, we have created a unique product that brings resort-style living for Gen X buyers.
Any tips on developing Central Florida? Please contact me at lkinsler@growthspotter.com or (407) 420-6261. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.
