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The Real Story has been talking with Dan O’Brien from Shea Trilogy active adult communities about the impact of the Baby Boomer generation on our view of retirement. According to Dan, this generation is combining a love of travel and a desire for service into programs that he calls “travel with purpose”—whereby active adults with a desire to “give back” travel to Third World countries for the purpose of doing construction, rehabbing buildings, or working in social programs for the betterment of the local citizenry. These trips are long—about four weeks—and provide a very different experience than the cruise ship voyages that were once the staple of senior travel groups.

Closer to home, at Dan’s own Trilogy at the Vineyards in Brentwood, the residents live among 35 acres of vineyards and another 30 of olive groves. The result, of course, is an active group of winemakers, and soon, the first olive oil crush as well. In the foodie-haven of the Bay Area, the attraction of participating in the harvest and processing of both wines and olive oils provides a link between wellness, connection, and exploration—all pillars of the new view of active adult living.

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Today Dan O’Brien, area president for Shea Homes Trilogy communities, talks to The Real Story about the Baby Boomers, who are now entering retirement age, if not retirement attitude. These new recruits to active adult living are changing the way communities are designed and how homes are built. They are looking at ways to green up their lives, and reduced energy use at home is a must. As a result, Dan says, Shea is building homes that are about 60 percent more energy efficient than those built just a decade ago—and about 15 percent more than the new energy codes.

The science of building has evolved so much that features like solar-ready options, tankless water heaters and attic fans to evacuate the hottest air in the house, giving the air-conditioning system a more efficient way to run, are now considered to be the next wave of energy efficiency. Lowering one’s carbon footprint while lowering the PG&E bill is a discussion that the Boomers are interested in pursuing while looking at their new home choices.

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This week, Dan O’Brien, president of Shea Homes Trilogy communities in Northern California is talking to The Real Story about how the Boomer generation is changing the concept of retirement living. Dan reminds us that earlier retirement living models were based on a scheduling format not unlike a cruise ship—with activities tightly planned and scheduled. The Boomer outlook calls for more flexibility, more choice, and more connection with the world outside of the boundaries of their community.

The Boomers are the first retirement generation adept at using the Internet, making them the most connected retirees in history. How will they redefine retirement through constant interaction with the world that is literally at their fingertips? Stay tuned.

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In an interview that was originally posted last summer, The Real Story talks with Dan O’Brien, President of Shea Homes’ Trilogy communities in Northern California. The subject? How the Boomer generation is changing the way that “active adult” living is defined—and how the home is just part of the equation.

The Boomer moving out of the family home and into active adult living is turning the conception of “senior housing” on its ear. For one thing, says Dan, only 10 percent of the residents of his Trilogy at the Vineyards community in Brentwood are actually retired. About 50 percent of the residents are still working in their careers; another 40 percent are starting new businesses, pursuing different career or interest paths. “These Boomers are not retiring”, says Dan. “They’re rewiring.”

Coming to Shea Trilogy from a career in homebuilding and active adult community development with Del Webb, Dan says that Shea has had to throw away old conceptions about product and lifestyle and create a series of new paths that involve exploration, including self-improvement, connection, and wellness and well-being. Sounds like a far cry from shuffleboard.

A segment of Dan’s memorable interview will be posted every day this week; listen here or download them on iTunes.

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Finishing up his week with The Real Story, Peter Palmisano of Pacific Union Development talks today about the kind of development we might be seeing in these capital-starved days. He likens himself and a number of other local developers as the kind of people who first ask themselves: what does the site say? That starts the envisioning process. The other extreme is represented by large institutional groups, who start with a formula and a product, and look for a site that will accommodate it. So will the near future of development be formulaic, or individualistic?

Peter puts his faith in the up-and-comers, the next generation of architects, designers and planners with vision and the ability to subordinate their own self-interest for the common good. The generational shift that we see coming can provide the development industry with a new breed of thinker, who brings technology and psychology together, uses common sense, and has enough sense of self to demand authenticity in that which is designed and built.

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In talking about creating community at Hamilton, Peter Palmisano refers to some of the guiding principles that he has lived by in his years in the development business: he calls them The Three Big E’s, and they stand for Economics, Environment and Expectations.

Looking at bringing a decommissioned airbase back to life as a neighborhood-based mixed use community, the development team had to take a realistic look at the economics of the proposed venture: the clean-up of the materials left behind from the base’s glory years with the Army Air Corps and the knock-down or retrofitting of old buildings on the site is a huge factor in the cost side of the equation YEARS before there is any return in terms of land or homes sales. So the question had to be asked: given the market conditions, given the condition of the site, and given the vision that would be necessary to underwrite to create enough momentum to launch this new community, could it fly?

The issues brought forward by the environment created a natural push-pull: the development team had to look beyond the enormous task of remediation and cleanup to focus on the out-of-the-box thinking so necessary to create a community of restored natural open spaces, walking trails, and even wild birds’ migration paths.

Finally, managing expectations—especially those of the community, who waited so long for Hamilton to open its gates and welcome the locals home. The neighbors were mindful of what a treasure they had in the historic Hamilton; they stayed engaged in the planning and building process to see firsthand just how the new Hamilton would live.