Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon has a reputation for independent-minded pioneers. But Oregonians also tend to value their communities and neighborhoods.

So, what happens when community-minded pioneers grow older, and face the possibility of  leaving their prized homes and neighborhoods?

Rob Manning reports on one Portland couple’s unique vision to offer a senior housing option that's new to Oregon.

Bing and Carolyn Sheldon asked a simple, but scary, question of their dinner guests, about two years ago.

Bing Sheldon: “ ‘What plans have you made after you finally decide you have to leave your home?’ And the answer across the room was ‘we don’t have any such plans’.”

Sheldon says those who’d visited retirement homes came away depressed. They said the homes were too suburban, and allowed the residents too little independence.

Bing Sheldon: “They’re business owners, lawyers, professionals. And the idea that they suddenly go someplace and someone else is going to make all their decisions for them is a bit of an anathema. It doesn’t work for them.”

So about two years after that formative dinner party, Sheldon is sharing his answer to his initial question at small information sessions, like this one.

Forty years ago, Sheldon founded SERA architects, so it’s only natural that his answer would be a building. The Sheldon as it's called, is proposed as a six-story building on a streetcar line in Northwest Portland.

Bing Sheldon: “It’s got transit. It’s near shopping. We can hop on the trolley and go downtown. So, ever since then, we’ve been trying to just see if this crazy idea has merit, is it just a few of us, or are there other people out there who would find this attractive?”

It’s more than an attractive idea at this stage, since Sheldon, and his developer Mark Desbrow, have an option on property. But what gets as much attention from Sheldon’s friends is this: The Sheldon would be Oregon’s first senior cooperative development.

That means The Sheldon would have a board of directors to manage the building and they would finance half the building through a shared mortgage.

Mark Desbrow says the bottom line is that more of the design ideas and money would come from future tenants - rather than outside investors.

Mark Desbrow:  “The Sheldon – you’d probably need to go out to the market and raise about $15 million, if it were a condo. In today’s market, shoot, you’d probably have to raise more than that. We’re only raising about a million dollars.”

Desbrow says the co-op model also allows him to use a loan program through the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

HUD is known for providing low-cost housing. But having federally-backed loans doesn’t mean The Sheldon would be affordable to low-income seniors.

The apartments are priced at $450 a square foot – or more than $800,000 for a two bedroom. In that sense, The Sheldon as a living option raises another question.

Jerry Cohen: “Is this a realistic affordable (option) for what most of us consider affordable in terms of housing?”

That's Jerry Cohen with Oregon’s chapter of AARP, the group that lobbies on behalf of seniors. He says this project probably costs more than many elderly people could afford  – but adds the cooperative model makes sense.

Developer, Mark Desbrow, defends the high price, saying that he’s giving Sheldon and his friends what they want, where they want it.

Back at the open house, the working assumption is that co-op tenants would likely sell their homes, to pay for their co-op share.

Richard Harris, a friend of Bing Sheldon’s – says it's not that simple.

Richard Harris: “Just because you may be owning a home someplace doesn’t necessarily mean you can sell it. So, I think there’s a lot of complications to doing this – but those complications would be the same if you decided to move to a senior facility someplace, or whatever, so you’ve got the same set of problems.”

Another friend, Paul Pavlovski, says his wife isn't sure it's time to downsize.

Paul Pavlovski:  “My wife and I have different opinions on this – that’s why she’s not here today. I was born and raised in New York City, and so the concept of city living to me is a natural. My wife was not.”

Developer Mark Desbrow acknowledges his biggest challenge aren't the technicalities of a co-op, or even the financing and bureaucratic hurdles. It’s getting aging baby boomers to face their futures. 

Mark Desbrow: “Our biggest competitor, if you will, is the homes that people live in – because their homes are great.”

Desbrow says it's catching on.  So far he has fifteen refundable deposits for fifty units. 

And Desbrow’s company, Greenlight Cooperative is already looking for similar opportunities in other parts of Oregon – Ashland, for starters. But where most developers would be scouting out property, Desbrow is looking for people.

He hopes to tap folks like Bing Sheldon did, unwittingly at his dinner party, two years ago.