Beverly Booth isn’t the only one who believes the Wilmington-area housing market will be able to support additional development aimed at potential residents who are 55 and older.

“As booming as the area is for retirees, I don’t see any of us having a problem filling up,” said Booth, marketing director for Cambridge Village, a new 110-unit, resort-style continuing care retirement community (CCRC) off Eastwood Road.

Carolina Bay at Autumn Hall, another CCRC on Eastwood Road, is expected to open in the fall.

“The demand is here,” said Jerry Cooper, director of development and marketing for Carolina Bay, which includes 124 independent living apartments, 54 of which have already been reserved.

“So many people are moving to this area to be closer to their children and grandchildren, plus we have a lot of local folks who are choosing Carolina Bay. So we’re getting folks from both the Wilmington area and outside the Wilmington area,” he said.

An assisted living component under construction at Carolina Bay is expected to be open after the first of next year, Cooper said.

“I think Carolina Bay is filling a huge need in this area for a rental continuing care retirement community,” he said.

At Cambridge Village, residents and staff celebrated the opening of the community’s Wellness Pavilion this summer. But that won’t be the end of additions to the development, which only accepts residents who are at least 55 years old, Booth said.

“Phase II is right around the corner,” Booth said, adding that tentative plans for the next phase of Cambridge Village include more independent living apartments.

She said places like Cambridge Village appeal to active seniors who can afford upscale living and who no longer want to contend with the hassles of home ownership. Residents there also welcome activities and amenities they can walk to, which in addition to the Wellness Pavilion include a salon and spa, a full-service pub for the residents who enjoy an evening cocktail and an indoor pickleball court, Booth said.

In general, continuing care retirement communities contain independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing home components, according to a definition provided by AARP.

“CCRCs offer a tiered approach to the aging process, accommodating residents’ changing needs,” AARP’s website says.

But the AARP article about CCRCs also points out that they are among the most expensive of long-term care options. Factors that have been influencing some seniors to choose luxury facilities include improvements in the housing market and the overall economy, according to a National Real Estate Investor article published in January.

National studies of the fourth quarter last year showed that independent living facilities led growth in the senior housing market, the article said.

While subject to the same supply and demand pressures as other real estate sectors, upscale retiree housing comes with its own marketing challenges. Local industry professionals said keeping up with what residents want is critical in the competition for housing dollars.

Some developers work to distinguish their communities from others in part through a variety of amenities.

“Even five years ago, you didn’t see a pub in a community like this,” Booth said, during a recent Cambridge Village tour where she also pointed out that the property’s clubhouse includes a small movie theater.

In Phase II of Cambridge Village, Booth said, workers will add waterfront dining to the list of features by expanding outdoor seating next to a pond beside the community’s full-menu restaurant.

Along with wellness centers and other attractions, retirement communities are placing an emphasis on programs that give residents more reasons to want to use the facilities.

“It’s great to have amenities, but it’s even better to have the programming for those things,”  said Zane Bennett, executive director of Plantation Village, a CCRC on Porters Neck Road that was founded in 1988. “It’s more about what happens here and less about the physical space.”

Plantation Village recently expanded by adding 27 units to its roster of more than 200. As of the beginning of August, 24 of those units had been spoken for by new, incoming residents, Bennett said.

“There’s an obvious need for services for seniors, whether that is retirement communities or home care or anything related to that,” Bennett said, referring to the Wilmington area specifically.

Plantation Village, which sits on a 56-acre campus, celebrated the opening of its new, 10,000-square-foot Wellness Center in July.

And while the community has added new facilities, an advantage for Plantation Village when it comes to competing with newer communities, Bennett said, is that its sense of community has been built up over the past three decades.

“We have residents who moved in here 26 years ago, and we’re 27 years old,” Bennett said.

CCRCs aren’t the only kind of developments seeking to attract an older demographic.

Plans for RiverLights, a 1,400-acre community in the works on River Road, include a neighborhood restricted to homeowners who are 55 or older.

“We don’t classify ours as ‘retiree,’ we classify it as an active adult community,” said Livian Jones, director of operations for RiverLights.