The \u201csilver tsunami\u201d has arrived in Juneau.<\/p>\n
The term refers to the rising number of seniors around the country, and Juneau\u2019s senior population is booming. In 2013, the City and Borough of Juneau cited Alaska Department of Labor numbers that estimated that Juneau\u2019s senior population will rise by 261 percent from 2010 to 2030<\/a>.<\/p>\n One of the many questions around this boom is that of where they can find housing. Part of the answer to that question is Trillium Landing, Juneau\u2019s newest senior living center.<\/p>\n The apartment complex is for residents aged 55 and above and is scheduled to open in early September, providing 49 units of varying size and layout. It\u2019s been in the works for around four years, with Seattle-based GMD Development designing and owning the facility and Dawson Construction building it.<\/p>\n Gaye Barrett, Vice President of Trillium Landing\u2019s leasing company Quantum Management<\/a>, said she\u2019s been actively working with 30 applicants so far and there\u2019s a great deal of anticipation surrounding the development. The development is in a spot within walking distance of Safeway Grocery Store, the Post Office, the Mendenhall Mall and the Alaska Club.<\/p>\n Barrett gave tours to a few potential residents this past Wednesday, to people around the age of 60 to one woman in her 90s. She took them through apartments that ranged from studios at $787 per month to two-bedroom units at $1,500 per month.<\/p>\n One of the biggest bits of positive feedback she heard was similar to what she hears in Seattle, where she spends most of her time. The windows in Trillium\u2019s units are larger than usual, and the bigger units feature an extra window in the kitchen.<\/p>\n \u201cJuneau, like Seattle, is pretty gray,\u201d Barrett said. \u201cA lot of people like to have extra windows.\u201d<\/p>\n Installing wide windows is one way that GMD is planning to use light to enhance the quality of living in the complex, but another use of sunlight is turning heads.<\/p>\n Solar power \u2026 in Juneau?<\/p>\n The first aspect of the building that stands out is the roof.<\/p>\n Lined up atop the building are 221 solar panels, poised to provide energy to the common areas of the building. While each unit is metered on normal electricity, the hallways, common rooms, elevator and other communal spaces will all run on solar energy.<\/p>\n Dana Rommerdahl, Development Associate for Seattle-based GMD Development, said many of their facilities have solar panels and employ the same kind of setup.<\/p>\n \u201cWe usually try and keep our properties as green as possible,\u201d Rommerdahl said. \u201cIt\u2019s helpful from an operations standpoint but it\u2019s also something that we like to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Juneau, which experiences an average of 230 days of rainfall per year, has actually experienced a very recent rise in solar power installations. Alec Mesdag, the Director of Energy Service for Alaska Electric Light &Power, said he\u2019s noticed three apartment complexes add solar panels this summer: The Terraces at Lawson Creek<\/a> on Douglas, Sleep Spruce Apartments<\/a> and now Trillium Landing.<\/p>\n Mesdag, who worked in solar energy for four years in Portland, Oregon, said Juneau\u2019s not an ideal place for solar energy. While the kind of solar panel at Trillium (crystalline silicon panels) still retains energy on cloudy days, Mesdag said, the difference between direct and indirect sunlight is \u201cmassive.\u201d He also said that the solar panels on Trillium\u2019s roof are too close together and might actually shade each other during parts of the year, causing them to retain less sunlight.<\/p>\n