Meet Laurie Schultz, principal and co-founder of Avenue Development, an Indianapolis-based developer of active adult, health care, post-acute care and senior living communities across the U.S. Prior to her work with Avenue Development, Schultz developed projects in medical ambulatory care, post-acute rehab, senior housing and market rate apartments exceeding $1.5 billion in value.
With an eye toward developing communities for the future, Schultz takes a focused approach to change that is geared around more efficient care delivery for the aging population, including the continuum of care.
In this Changemakers interview, Schultz discusses her approach to change both in terms of the day-to day and big-picture innovation. She talks about a recent change for Avenue in the launch of its new active adult brand, as well as the areas where she sees the senior living industry as still in need of change so that it may grow.
In what ways do you think the senior living industry is changing right now?
We are facing a generational shift in the entire identity of the industry. While we have unprecedented demand from boomers, the industry does not currently have a product type that resonates with the majority of individuals in this demographic. Today, we have not only an immense opportunity to capitalize on this intensely strong demographic demand, but also, quite honestly, a social obligation to curate a new paradigm of housing for older adults. This also ties squarely to our nation’s needs to address quality and cost issues in our healthcare system. There’s no time like the present to imagine new opportunities to create environments where older adults can thrive.
In what ways do you think senior living operators need to change for the incoming generation of older adults?
Our industry has lived with a hospitality mentality for decades by providing a full-service approach to aging. This manifests itself in properties that showcase the best culinary experience, the most exciting activities, on-demand transportation services, first-class healthcare. When we look at real-world needs of population masses, it’s an impossible scenario to maintain, and it’s bringing our industry to the verge of consumer obsolescence.
Across the industry, senior living providers should ask themselves: Do I want to be a needs-based operator or a wants-based manager? The basis of this question lies in whether or not you want to lean all-in to a higher acuity healthcare model or you want to focus more fully on prevention and socialization. Both are needed, but right now we are trying to be everything to everyone.
How do you think the senior living industry can change to better educate prospective residents and their families in the years ahead?
We must stop operating on an island. We continue to ask this question internally and expect different results. If it was just industry marketing the perception would have changed by now. Before we can educate our end users, we need to redefine our identity and recognize our importance in the healthcare continuum. That begins with broader healthcare partnerships with hospital systems, physicians and payors to bring us into the larger ecosystem.
Our industry is at the focal point of social determinants of health. When an unlock happens between the senior living industry and the broader healthcare sector, important changes will come.
In what ways can senior living companies change the public’s perception of the industry?
I’m always fascinated by the Direct Supply annual senior survey. Every year they ask about the desire to move into a senior living community and the answer is a resounding no. But when you change the question, and describe the services and social living environment without using the term “senior living,” interest goes up. We are just now starting to test these theories with the emergence of active adult and it’s resonating with the consumer. CBS Sunday Morning recently did a piece on Latitude Margaritaville. It highlighted the perception shift that’s needed — to believe that life can be vibrant, fulfilling and purposeful in this next chapter.
Tell us about some of your recent efforts to change the senior living industry for the better.
Avenue is focused on change in both needs-based assisted living and memory care, as well as change in independent living, by expanding social engagement models and overlaying preventive healthcare.
At one of our senior living communities, we purchased land in suburban Indianapolis from a local health system and collaborated with them to integrate synergies for cross-marketing, preventive health programming and medical directorship assistance. Everything we do at Avenue is centered around the principles of value-based care; it permeates our culture and it goes far beyond the physical design and construction of a community. We constantly ask, “How can this community or project be structured differently to improve resident health quality?”
This is the foundation of our newest offering, Viva Bene.
Viva Bene is our age restricted, active adult rental brand. It is the nation’s first active adult brand to incorporate an all-in lens on wellness-centered programming and ready access to primary care services including care navigation and chronic care management.
Historically age-restricted housing has focused on higher acuity residents and managing complications from multiple chronic health conditions. We want to attract a younger resident, and encourage a holistic healthy lifestyle to improve wellness longevity from a physical, mental and financial standpoint. Critical to the model is the availability of clinical concierges who help residents navigate healthcare system complexities and embrace preventive health. This includes targeted focus on identifying, addressing and reducing risks associated with chronic conditions. Delivered by a third-party healthcare provider, these services are optional for residents. Insurers, including Medicare, are billed for services. Carving out these services via collaboration with healthcare providers significantly reduces operational overhead and risk for the building’s owners and investors.
Better health outcomes lead to less healthcare spending and the ability to reside longer in a moderate-priced living environment. Perhaps most importantly, healthier residents are able to continue having a positive impact on their neighboring residents and the broader community.
Change is hard. Can you talk about a time when you tried to execute a change and things didn’t go according to plan? How did you pivot, and what did you learn as a leader?
I learn lessons daily about change, especially with our own internal Avenue mindset. Change is not individual. It is a group movement with collective buy-in around the vision of the future. My best example is during the pandemic we wanted to find an efficient solution for our operating partners to make physical changes and improvements with technology in their buildings. We called it SmartDesign. It failed because ultimately, I did not create a strong enough vision of the impact to our team, and the program felt like pushing a boulder up a mountain. Conversely, before launching Viva Bene, we spent a year internally collaborating on the vision and brand of an active adult setting that could incorporate preventive healthcare. Every aspect, including selecting the Viva Bene name, was evaluated by the Avenue team. Today we drive our pipeline of new communities forward with a collective inspiration to invoke industry change.
What’s the biggest change you ever made in your career or life? How did it go and what did you learn?
Hands down my largest personal and professional change has been co-founding Avenue with my business partner Mike Mattingly. I was 32. As entrepreneurs, we had rose-colored glasses and held closely to the visional aspirations one needs to voluntarily give up a consistent paycheck!
The lessons from my entrepreneurial journey are never ending and I appreciate all of them, especially the difficult ones that make me question my decisions. In many aspects of my life, I have evolved. I’m a stronger, more empathic leader, but also a more guarded person. My core values of integrity and loyalty are unwavering.
What advice do you have for other senior living companies implementing their own changemaking efforts?
Several prominent names in our industry said integrating active adult and healthcare wasn’t possible, or that venturing into this gray area stands to be risky if the integrity of active adult diminishes over time. Despite this, we had humbling support for our Viva Bene model — and this year we celebrated the brand’s first grand opening.
As a leader, when you hear the words like “no,” “can’t,” “don’t,” dive deeper to understand the reasons for concern behind those words. Use those insights to make your idea more feasible. Ultimately, if you believe in something, move forward with it. As a female entrepreneur, one of my favorite quotes sums up my mentality: “Well-behaved women seldom make history!””
If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about the senior living industry, what would it be and why?
I would change our own defensive nature. We are all in this business to positively impact lives while also making a financial return. We all stand to win, however, if we could drop the barriers between investment returns and operations, collecting fees regardless of outcomes and work together on broader solutions of creating a product consumers want.
What fictional character would you enlist to help change the senior living industry for the better this year?
Keri Russell’s character Kate Wyler in The Diplomat. She brings intelligence and experience from outside of government into her new diplomatic role. She is unconventional and messy.
She knows that change is not clean and doesn’t follow a linear path. But she uses her connections and external expertise to kick-start initiatives and achieve momentum.
Pretend the senior living industry is a streaming service. What movie or television series best describes the industry right now? And if you could change to a new movie or television series, what would it be and why?
I’ve often found myself seeing comparisons to our industry’s journey while watching Yellowstone. Many in our industry are trying to preserve a way of life in the environment that’s undergone significant change. New competition is coming in and we should be proactive, not reactive to it. We have allowed ourselves to be susceptible to competitive threats.
In moving the industry forward, I’d like to see us be more aligned to WeCrashed, the docudrama of the WeWork story. My intention here is not for us to ultimately fail, but to see us move forward where we have a bit more ego. We should exude excitement to work in age-restricted housing.
We should push boundaries to try different models. We should seek ways to attract new types of investors and investment. This has the potential to help us create a new dimension, one that’s driven by us, rather than others, bringing our industry forward.
