In the News: Will sprawling residential development bolster Greenville as retirement destination

By David Caraviello for The Post and Courier | Mar. 1, 2024 | View Original Article Here

GREENVILLE — Well before the city started showing up on best-of lists with regularity, Greenville was already a popular destination among retirees.

As the region’s international manufacturers added more employees throughout the early 1990s, Greenville also began attracting their retired parents — drawn to a temperate, four-season location that also happened to be home to their children and grandchildren.

Kathy Rogoff, who began selling real estate in Greenville after moving to the area in 1985, saw it all unfold firsthand.

“There are a lot of older people following their family members here who are younger. We’ve had that for years,” said Rogoff, an agent with Allen Tate Realtors. “When I initially came to town, I sold several houses to the parents of people who were moving here for work. And as the industry is increasing, we have more empty nesters coming.”

It’s all added up to a retirement real estate market that “is huge,” Rogoff said, one burnished by Greenville’s presence on “best place to retire” lists produced by the likes of U.S. News and World Report, Conde Nast Traveler, and the “Today” show.

And yet, the Greenville area has lacked the kind of large-scale, amenity-laden, 55-plus development so common in the Lowcountry — until Feb. 5, when PulteGroup broke ground on a 434-home Del Webb community along the Reedy River near Mauldin.

“The retirement market is growing in Greenville with the Baby Boomer and Gen Xers reaching retirement age,” said Linda Moore, an agent and Senior Real Estate Specialist with Coldwell Banker Caine. “We have a large group of adults looking to move out of their family homes and into smaller homes with activities and resort-like amenities for the 55-plus crowd. It is easy to see why a builder like Del Web would be enticed to build here. With our pleasant climate and lower cost of living, people are being drawn to the area.”

But what Del Webb developments do offer is resort-like amenities like swimming pools, tennis and pickleball courts, and large clubhouses, which will instantly set the forthcoming Mauldin development apart from other senior communities in Greenville.

“We have some 55-and-older communities that have absolutely no amenities at all,” Rogoff said.

Added Moore: “Greenville has a growing need for a community like the one Del Webb will be building. Although it may not be overdue, it is certainly timely with the growing interest in retirement options here in the Upstate. We are lacking the 55-plus community that offers affordability, amenities and an overall active lifestyle that appeals to people as they transition into this next phase of life.”

In addition to amenities, Del Webb communities also typically include lifestyle directors who organize classes, clubs and activities, and a resident’s lawn and garden needs are taken care of. But all those perks can come with a price in the form of association fees that can run into the hundreds of dollars per month, Rogoff said.

“While people are excited about it, they’re also going to realize that they’re going to have to pay for that,” she said. “These are gated communities with private roads that have to be maintained. I know in some of them, their monthly HOA fees are $600 to $800. And they do not go down — they will go up. So I think people need to go into this with a clear sense of what they’re really buying into.”

Growing Del Webb presence in SC

A California native, Del Webb changed the concept of retirement living when he opened his flagship Sun City community in Phoenix in January of 1960. It attracted 100,000 visitors on its first weekend, according a company history, and sold 1,300 homes by the end of the year. Two years later, Webb appeared on the cover of Time magazine, under the headline “A New Way of Life For the Old.”

Acquired by PulteGroup for $1.8 billion in 2001, Del Webb now has communities in 19 states, and a growing presence in South Carolina. The Greenville development will join Del Webb Nexton and Del Webb Cane Bay north of Charleston, Sun City Hilton Head in Bluffton, Sun City Carolina Lakes in Indian Land, and Del Webb Grande Dunes in Myrtle Beach. Also in the works is Del Webb Point Hope in Charleston.

While construction on Del Webb Greenville isn’t scheduled to start until later in 2024, the community will offer floorplans that range from 1,300 to over 2,200 square feet, with two or four bedrooms, and the option to add lofts or sunrooms. While prices have not yet been released, homes in Del Webb Nexton currently start at $386,990, and homes at Del Webb Grande Dunes in Myrtle Beach start at $399,990, according to the company website.