Ivan Stinson with his wife Margaret are pictured after he was presented with the Governor General's Award for his work in the environment. The couple has lived at Village by the Arboretum next to the University of Guelph for four years.

Tapestry at Wesbrook Village at UBC will feature a mix of land uses including residential and street-level retail. This drawing shows the north rental building, main entrance and retail space.

Landscaping at Village by the Arboretum in Guelph.

It was a long-ago tradition on the University of Guelph campus so in celebration of the 60th anniversary of his class’ graduation this spring, Ivan Stinson painted the cannon located close to the University Centre.

Margaret and Ivan Stinson are enjoying their retirement years in Guelph, Ont., in large measure because they’re living next door to the University of Guelph, Ivan’s alma mater.
After 16 years of retirement in Nova Scotia, the two retired schoolteachers returned to their native Ontario four years ago and pounced on the opportunity to live in a 1,350-square-foot bungalow in Village by the Arboretum, an adult lifestyle community a few steps from the campus where Ivan earned a degree in 1949.
“We were several reasons for the choice of location. I would be very near to the educational institution which is dear to me, I played on various sports teams, I would be handy to the alumni office and other facilities, and importantly, to be within a stone's throw of the location where my wife and I enjoyed our first date,” says Ivan, a graduate of the Ontario Agricultural College at U of G and an active member of its alumni association.
The couple’s son Ross also attended U of G and Margaret and several of her relatives have close ties to the university.
The Stinsons aren’t the only residents drawn to Village by the Arboretum by their university connections. Several of their neighbours are former students, some are retired U of G professors and administrators and others work at the university.
The Stinsons and their retired acquaintances are on the leading edge of a fledgling trend in Canada – much smaller than in the United States – that has developers building seniors housing on or adjacent to university campuses, says Klaus Rohrich of Taylor Rohrich Associates in Cobourg, Ont., which specializes in marketing and designing retirement residences and adult lifestyle communities.
“People like communities that are filled with people of similar interests and values,” Rohrich says. “Village by the Arboretum has many alumni interested in living there. It not just about the ability to pursue more education and learning but the whole area of amenities that are nearby – social, sports, physical and health care.
“Many of these people spent their youth in university and they want to return to those days because they see it as a golden age. They are comfortable and also have a feeling of security because in some cases the communities are owned by a university and they know they are dealing with a reputable organization,” says Rohrich. “And if they can re-connect with people they knew years ago, that is another big plus.”
According to a recent study in the U.S., where alumni tend to be much more rabid supporters of their alma maters than in Canada, there are over 100 university-based retirement facilities currently open or in development near such schools as Notre Dame, Cornell, Stanford  and Duke. Universities view the developments as new sources of revenue and a way to cement ties with alumni.
“A (housing) attachment to a university makes a lot of sense,” says Stephen Hiscox,
senior director of research, valuation and advisory with the Seniors Practice Group of the Altus Group, a real estate consultancy in Toronto. “It feeds into what baby boomers are looking for – a longer life and a more active life and a lifestyle that ties in with being able to take classes, retire and use their brains. The whole programming around universities has a lot of attraction for seniors.”
Until recently, the Village by the Arboretum was rare in Canada, offering seniors housing tied in with university life. Soon, however, the University of British Columbia will be home to a 180-unit seniors residence right on campus. Similar projects are sure to follow because these settings, while not inexpensive, offer plenty of attractive amenities, including free or reduced-price classes, access to well-stocked libraries, low crime rates and good public transit.
The Village by the Arboretum consists of 493 single-family detached and town homes, as well as mid-rise condominiums, on a 112-acre site leased by Reid's Heritage Homes from the University of Guelph, explains administrator Lynn Lathey. Located adjacent to the University's 500-acre Arboretum, it offers a large recreation centre with an indoor pool, auditorium and many activity rooms.
A residents association (VBARA), formed in 1994, is responsible for representing the general interests of the Village residents to the landlord, the University of Guelph, governments and other organizations.
The UBC development, Tapestry at Wesbrook Village, is being constructed on university property by Concert Properties of Vancouver. Work is expected to be completed late in the summer of 2010, says Bob McKay, the company’s senior vice-president of new business initiatives. It will consist of two six-storey buildings that will house 134 rental apartments and 46 condominiums above street retail outlets in the new South Campus neighbourhood.
Sale prices have yet to be announced. Marketing is to begin in the spring of 2010 with occupancy in the fall of 2010, says McKay, who notes that the project is modelled on Concert’s Tapestry at The O'Keefe – Arbutus Walk, on Vancouver’s west side.
“A lot of residents in Tapestry Okeefe were retired faculty,” says McKay. “We had conversations with them and discovered their close associations with the university. It got us thinking of tying a seniors project with the university.
“We realized there is a strong desire among a lot of retired seniors to go back and attend lectures and mix with the student population.”
The residence will offer seniors preferred access to sport and cultural events at the university and the opportunity to take courses; it will also include a state-of-the-art on-site classroom where UBC faculty will conduct lectures and evening classes.
“The idea is to make sure seniors are integrated with the university campus and the university community. UBC is helping us make sure it happens,” says McKay.
Back east in Guelph, meanwhile, the Stinsons can’t say enough about their close proximity and association with the University of Guelph, which is a 10-minute walk from their front door.
They have been actively involved in a variety of alumni events, including coordinating the 60th anniversary of the Ontario Agricultural College’s 1949 graduating class, and often use the university library and attend lectures dealing with plants and the environment, two of their pet interests.
Similarly, the University of Guelph appreciates Village by the Arboretum as a neighbour, in part, says U of G real estate director Philip Wong, because money earned from leasing its land generates much-need funds.
“It is an important source of cash,” says Wong, “… providing money that is invested back into the university for purposes that are not otherwise available through the regular funding process.”