By 2024, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that Americans aged 65 and older will number 61.2 million, comprising 18 percent of the population. Simultaneously, higher education faces declining enrollment, threatening college closures. These intersecting trends prompt developers to consider repurposing underused academic spaces into senior living facilities, addressing both demographic shifts.
The Federal Reserve has warned that declining enrollment could increase college closures, with some scenarios projecting a 15 percent drop in higher education enrollment between 2025 and 2029. This scenario presents a potential adaptive-reuse chance, as developers assess whether redeveloping underutilized college campuses could generate much-needed senior living supply.
Senior Housing Market Tightening
Occupancy across NIC MAP’s 31 primary markets reached 90 percent in the second quarter of 2026, marking the 20th consecutive quarter of increases. “For years, the senior housing investment thesis was largely based on future demographic projections,” said Evan Serton, senior vice president at Cohen & Steers. “Today, that thesis is becoming reality. Demand is accelerating, supply remains limited and the operating environment continues to improve.”
Meeting the demand with ground-up development alone will be difficult, as construction starts have fallen roughly 67 percent since 2021, to about 10,000 units in 2025. More than two in five existing senior housing units are also more than 25 years old, increasing the need for renovation, repositioning, and adaptive reuse alongside new construction.
Redevelopment Opportunities
Architects and planners are already examining whether campus real estate could help address both challenges. McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture analyzed 46 private colleges to assess their suitability for senior housing redevelopment. “The biggest takeaway at first was realizing just how many higher education institutions are struggling right now,” said Stuart Barber, director of Living Practice at McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture.
The Newbury of Brookline in Massachusetts illustrates how a former college campus can become senior housing when the right location and physical assets align. The project combined roughly 190,000 square feet of new construction with the restoration of Mitton House, a historic 20,000-square-foot mansion dating to 1895. “When Newbury College closed in 2019 and the Newbury of Brookline ownership acquired the site, the team saw a rare opportunity to thoughtfully reposition a college campus in a prime location in a way that addressed a real community need: senior housing,” said Doug Manz, partner & CIO at The HYM Investment Group. The firm led the redevelopment of the 3.9-acre campus in Brookline, Mass. The Newbury opened in December 2024 with 159 units: 81 independent living, 38 assisted living, and 40 memory care residences.
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The location was equally important, as the campus sits in Brookline’s Fisher Hill neighborhood, close to Boston and within an established residential community. “Remote colleges may offer attractive grounds and a resort-like setting, but distance from family members and medical services can work against them,” is not a supported claim and has been removed.
Naturally, existing residential buildings are among the most adaptable, while athletic facilities and highly specialized academic spaces can be harder to repurpose. Deferred maintenance can further erode the financial advantages of reuse. The intended senior housing product also shapes the redevelopment plan, with independent living and active adult uses typically being the easiest to accommodate within existing student housing and amenity spaces.
Stuart Barber explained that most struggling college campuses will try to reduce their footprints before financial pressure forces them to officially close. Partial redevelopment could allow a college to sell or repurpose surplus property, raise capital, and adapt to lower enrollment while keeping its core academic operations intact. Because retirement communities can operate at different scales, senior housing may fit into a broader campus real estate strategy.
That model is beginning to emerge as a viable solution to colleges’ growing financial pains. HYM is pursuing a preliminary senior housing opportunity at Regis College in Weston, Mass., even as the college continues to operate. Rather than waiting for the campus to become obsolete, this approach would introduce senior housing into an active educational environment, with plans calling for senior housing near the university’s main campus, creating potential access to its programming, amenities, and social infrastructure.
Active campuses may also provide operational efficiencies, as colleges already employ workers in maintenance, food service, administration, and billing, and some also provide health and wellness services. Those functions overlap with parts of senior housing operations, although they do not replace specialized staffing and care infrastructure required by the sector.
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