Suburbia. Just the word often conjures up images of endless lines of cookie-cutter homes. From the air the streetscape resembles a plate of unruly spaghetti. No one would want to live in a place that reflects the soul-crushing lifestyles portrayed in a long line of movies and mini-series from American Beauty to the recent release of Little Fires Everywhere. Mass media often indicts the suburbs as boring at best, or at worst, depicts the ‘burbs as hot beds of moral decay.
But wait, suburbia is changing. Suddenly, the suburbs may be getting a second look. Not just from Boomers that were once seen as inevitably downsizing to the city or to a 50-something development, but from persnickety Millennials who could never see themselves living ‘out there.’ But, out there they are. In fact, for the past four-plus years there has been a decline of Millennials living in big cities. Could an on-going reshaping of suburbia become the basis of a truly multigenerational community?
Before COVID-19 set into motion long lines of cars on freeways and parkways filled with urban dwellers evacuating to vacation homes and to friends living ‘out there’ in search of more space, the suburbs were ‘urbanizing.’
Not in the classic demographic sense, that is, with dramatically higher population densities, but with an emerging blend of housing and lifestyle options once reserved only for the cool kids. You know, urban Millennials.
Before Boomers read this and get excited about the potential of millions of Millennials coming to buy their three, four bedroom homes, put a pin in that. The underlying dynamic that drives the desire to buy a larger home, children, is not showing any sign of changing.
The Millennials are simply not having kids. As discussed in a previous article, the birthrate is at a record low. The demand for the current stock of Boomer homes, typically older and larger, especially homes of McMansion proportions, is not likely to accelerate until the Boomers’ and Gen Xers’ kids decide to have kids.
Instead, housing options that are becoming increasingly attractive to both younger and older buyers are apartment, condominium, and garden communities in the suburbs. Multifamily developers, such as Avalon Bay Communities, PulteGroup are finding that housing options rich with amenities are attracting a new generation of buyers – young and old.
Moreover, these housing options are made more attractive when located in what might be best described as an ‘urbanesque’ or ‘urban-light’ development. The undeniable attraction of city life is having ‘it’ all right at your doorstep. ‘It,’ of course, includes places to shop and eat, having a cold one, meeting friends, making new ones, enjoying cultural attractions, or simply going for an interesting walk.
Many suburbs are getting a makeover. Faux town centers, that is, activity centers located where there is no legacy of a classic main street, are being built with restaurants, shops, grocery stores, coffee bars, exercise boutiques, and more. Often anchored by a Whole Foods, or another lifestyle retailer, multifamily housing, and even nearby single-family developments, are offering more affordable, lower density urbanesque options.
The construction of apartment and condominium units in suburban Chicago, for example, is reported to rival the number of units being built downtown. By the end of 2019 about 3,500 apartment units in Chicago’s suburbs were scheduled to be completed, the most since 1996, only 300 units short of the 3,800 apartments to be completed in the city. Developers are responding to the desire of Millennials for a little more space, amenities, and a ‘home town’ feel, without giving up urban living entirely – even if ‘urban-light.’
The new suburban lifestyle is not just about multifamily housing. Some Boomers may want to downsize, but they still like where they live today. Many are looking for options to live easier, affordably, by living with less house, but not no house. Likewise, many Millennials would like a place with a yard – even if there are no kids, there are lots of dogs.
Invitation Homes, the largest single-family home rental firm, for instance, is reported to be looking for 80,000 homes not in cities, but in the suburbs of growing regions, that offer an urbanesque lifestyle to a growing number of Boomer and Gen X empty-nesters as well as Millennials seeking to live where there is just enough activity, with a little space, at the right price, with almost everything at their doorstep.
Change in the suburbs is about more than housing options, retail, and dog parks. The digital economy most often associated with urban convenience-craving Millennials is also spreading into the ‘burbs. Life-by-app is now loved by Boomers too.
In a CNBC interview, Fresh Direct’s CEO described how his urban grocery delivery business is growing. In short, Fresh Direct’s iconic orange trucks are joining other traditional urban delivery services that are following their consumers into the suburbs. As a result, caravans of on-demand service providers from grocers to cleaners are becoming as common in suburbia as they are in many urban enclaves. Even the desire to grab a slice in suburbia has become easier. Domino’s Pizza that sales increases in 2019 came primarily from suburban and even rural markets.
Often a reason to live in the city is to eliminate the cost and hassle of owning a car. By definition, suburban America reflected, and reinforced, car culture. Except for transit lines that primarily support commuters traveling in and out of the city, there have been few mobility options within and around the suburbs. That too is changing.
The growth of mixed-use suburban developments introduce more than vibrancy, they also improve accessibility. While the choices of where to shop are markedly fewer than in a city, walking to the grocery store or to a restaurant is increasingly feasible, thereby reducing the number of trips that require driving.
Ride-hailing services, such as Uber and Lyft, are becoming a mainstay in many suburban communities. Uber, for instance, reports “growing in markets where there was no alternative to driving your car.” With increasing on-demand transportation available outside the city, tossing the car keys may be an option for many living and retiring in the suburbs.
Storytellers enjoy conflict. Tales with winners and losers make a good story. City versus suburb has been an ongoing story in the United States since WWII. Despite the storytelling, neither city, nor suburb, can live without the other. One cannot rise while the other falls – at least not for very long.
It may not be that retiring Boomers, or maturing Millennials, changed what they like. Instead, it may be that planners, real estate developers, and builders are beginning to realize that there is a profound market opportunity for creative approaches to suburban housing, commercial development, and services that are the basis of a vibrant multigenerational lifestyle. And, that multigenerational communities are not just an idea – but are an idea whose time is here – they are “just not widely distributed yet.”
And, while we are at it, perhaps it’s time for a new suburbia miniseries too.
This article originally appeared on Forbes.
