Emerging from School Moratorium

They can slap a ‘G’ rating on ‘Symphony Village’ in Pasadena: it’s ‘appropriate for all ages.”

Because of changes in school districts, the 924 unit community has just been re-approved to remove the age-restricted label. In a market in which senior housing is among the slowest moving product, shedding the ‘Active Adult’ tag and tapping into the broader market is like winning the lottery.

Where they can, other developers are revising their plans to drop the age-restricted label. It’s a measure of how difficult the market for the ‘golden years’ buyer is that some developers are willing get back in the queue for school capacity, even if it means a wait of several years.

Besides Symphony, school capacity changes have also freed up a dozen single-family lots in “Penderbrooke.” Because Old Mill High School has additional room, Koch Associates has submitted plans to revise its approved Final Plan for 60 acres off Severn Chapel Road. Whitehall Development also wants to revise its Final Plan for ‘Admiral’s Ridge townhouse project, already Sketch approved for age-restricted in Arnold. But Annapolis-based Whitehall is opted to revise the application for the broader market, even though it means joining a queue to wait for school capacity.

Symphony will be 250 singles, 266 townhouse villas and 408 condominiums, located on the east side of Marley Neck Boulevard, opposite Freeman Shores Road, and next to the already-selling Tanyard Springs.

Reston, Va.-based Sanctuary Properties owns the Symphony Village ground, but the project is managed by Crofton-based Caruso Homes.