Lifestyle Targeting

Toronto marketer Stan Kates is succeeding with his "lifestyle concept communities," fortifying his claim that most builders worry too much about sticks and bricks and not enough about fashioning strategic lifestyles that attract like-minded buyers.

Kates' concept first played out in the active-adult project Heritage Village near Niagara Falls, Ontario. "We took over marketing that community after it sold 200 homes in seven years," he says. "We repositioned it as a place to help baby boomers 'live younger longer.' We trademarked that phrase and sold the remaining 200 homes in three years."

The 55-acre, 400-unit development of condo apartments, townhouses and detached homes targeted retirees and active adults trapped in a hectic lifestyle in Toronto. Heritage Village played on boomers' fear that the big city might be shortening their lives and countered with a stress-free location, a milder climate and a $1.2 million clubhouse and fitness center.

"Concept communities sell faster and generate more revenue per square foot," Kates says.