Instant community

Boulder's Silver Sage appeals to older adults who want privacy - and shared space

By Karen Mitchell, Special to the Rocky

Published January 11, 2008 at 6:29 p.m.

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The main floor of the Porter-Knifong home features a dramatic, two-story vaulted ceiling and the ideal setting for the couple's antiques. The couple, in their 60s, considered many options before deciding to retire in Silver Sage Village.

Photos By Ellen Jaskol / The Rocky

During a potluck Sunday brunch, Margaret Porter, Brownie Leach and Henry Kroll, left to right, visit in the kitchen of the common house. Brownie Leach's husband, Jim Leach, is president of Wonderland Hill, developer of Silver Sage.

Call them "accidental co-housers."

When Margaret Porter and her husband, Dan Knifong, decided to leave their much-loved Cape Cod in Maryland for a better place to enjoy their retirement, they considered at least 25 options. An array of retirement communities featured independent housing, golf courses and cooperative living.

Porter - a former federal attorney and Food and Drug Administration chief counsel, and Knifong, a retired mathematics professor - opted for Boulder.

"We realized that Boulder was the only place where we could both be happy because of its unique combination of a cosmopolitan cultural environment, the university and the availability of intellectual companions," Porter says.

The couple, in their 60s, looked at various homes here until an ad in a Boulder Senior Center newsletter led them to Silver Sage Village. The community, one of the first active-adult co-housing communities in the United States, is open to homeowners 50 and up.

The couple's stunning 1,900-square-foot home, the Cottonwood unit, is close to a common deck and the elevator.

The main floor of the two-bedroom, three-bathroom unit features a dramatic two-story vaulted ceiling. Windows frame beautiful views of the mountains, and the room is an ideal setting for the couple's antiques, which range from 18th to early 20th century.

Silver Sage Village features a shared 5,000-square-foot common house with a guest bedroom, gourmet kitchen, yoga/meditation space, media room, large deck and various storage spaces.

The three-story elevator building, with two duplexes, was designed by co-housing architect Charles Durrett of McCamant & Durrett Architects of Nevada City, Calif., and Bryan Bowen, Bryan Bowen Architects, Boulder.

Silver Sage is adjacent to a multigenerational co-housing community, the established Wild Sage Village, which, like Silver Sage, was developed by Wonderland Hill Development Co.

The intentional proximity will allow intergenerational activity between the two communities, one with older adults and the other with families that include young children.

Porter and Knifong sold their roomy East Coast home in 2006, renting a Boulder apartment during the construction of Silver Sage and taking time to travel.

"The wonderful thing about Silver Sage is the combination of privacy and community," says Knifong, who retired in 2003 after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

"The south side is our great room, and people can look in from the common walkway," Knifong says.

"I'm not interested in a small-town atmosphere, where everyone knows your business. We all have blinds opening from top to bottom, and we're developing protocols about signals. If people walk by while we're having breakfast, we can invite them in if we want to. If our blinds are closed, that signals, 'Please call first.' You have to establish boundaries."

Wonderland Hill President Jim Leach, who has developed 18 co-housing communities around the country, currently is working on Solar Row, next to Silver Sage. His company also has plans to develop a co-housing complex as part of Arvada's master planned net-zero (no energy) GEOS neighborhood. Leach and his wife, Brownie Leach, live at Silver Sage.

"I think we'll see more and more active-adult co-housing communities," he says. "A good percentage of those at Silver Sage moved here (Boulder) from someplace else. They have some ties to Boulder, but they are establishing themselves here for retirement. It's instant community. It offers a creative way to be efficient about aging in place and to get more out of life."

Porter says she and Knifong are thrilled with their decision.

"Dan is involved with the building and grounds committee here, and he also finds time to write. For a group as small as Silver Sage, we have remarkable diversity, with librarians, health-care workers, architects, gardeners, cooks and experts in organizational development. I'm a recovering lawyer, and this professional depth serves us well."

Although they considered other luxury condos in Boulder, Knifong notes that the only community space in those was the elevator.

"I'd rather be in a community reaching out than on the outside looking in."

About Silver Sage Village

* What: Silver Sage Village, opened in October 2007, a 16-household community for active, older adults

* Where: North Boulder's Holiday neighborhood

* Developer: Wonderland Hill Development Co.

* Price: Ten of the homes are market rate, and six are deemed permanently affordable by the city of Boulder. Homes range from $110,000 to a high of about $795,000.

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