Glacier Circle: The Next Family

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“With this intimate living situation, it’s much more than having a friend who lives across town,” says Nancy Jungerman, 81, a resident of Glacier Circle. “We share the pains as well as the joys of our lives.”

Glacier Circle is the nation’s first co-housing project for seniors, although other similar senior projects have since been built elsewhere. Opened in December 2005, the communal living project sits at the end of a cul-de-sac in Davis and is within a half-mile of Sutter Davis Hospital and within walking distance of doctors’ offices.

The group of 12 friends — some couples, some singles — decided to build the project together after realizing that their friendships were one of the key things they wanted to preserve in retirement. The group scoured Davis to find land suitable for a living situation where individuals’ condo-like residences could be built around a common area. The project also has a community gathering house where residents eat together or watch TV or just talk. The group hired a personal chef who comes in to cook two nights a week. They all eat at a round table.

The project was designed by architect Julie Haney of JMH Architecture. The group also sought advice from Davis developer Virginia Thigpen, who helped develop another multigenerational co-housing project a few blocks from Glacier Circle called Muir Commons.

Haney says the group became even closer as they worked to design the project. And the community is even stronger now. “They love each other even more,” says Haney. “They are learning how to be a family together. They are becoming like brothers and sisters. In a way, they keep an eye out for each other.”

That was the whole idea.

The individual living units are designed so the seniors can age in place. Bathrooms are wide enough to be wheelchair accessible. Only two units have stairs, but those were built with an eye to adding a lift if needed.

The project is built on .83 acres that abut a city duck pond. The whole thing cost $3.2 million to build and each unit costs about $400,000. Details of how the units will be passed on to family or how new residents will be selected have not been finalized, but residents say they will have first right of refusal for new people.

Recently, one of the residents died after a lengthy illness. She had been working as the group’s treasurer even though she knew she would soon pass on. “She taught us how to die with grace,” says Jungerman. “She kept living right up to the end.”

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