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Jim Swenson, a retired Portland filmmaker, doesn’t want to end up in the same boat as his parents.

They moved into their dream house on the 14th hole of the Rock Creek Country Club Golf Course, near North Bethany. But it wasn’t built for aging in place, and it wasn’t close to family and friends. Then his parents suffered a couple of bad falls, and Swenson and his wife, Janet Gillaspie, had to scramble to find them an alternative residence that was more manageable physically. Options were limited on such short notice, and Swenson’s mother ultimately ended up in a retirement home that she hated.

“It was so sad because they didn’t want to leave their home,” Swenson said. “It’s something that people have done for a long time – they’re just totally in denial that something ought to be done. You ought to make changes in your life and living situation before you’re forced to do it.”

Swenson, 70, is still pretty active, but he can foresee a day when he won’t be. So, he and his wife and 11 other couples (and counting) are drafting plans for a in Portland for aging adults.

The approximately $10 million PDX Commons development, unlike a retirement home or an assisted living facility, will be more like carefully curated condominiums where community is the main amenity. Members believe it might be the first cohousing project in Portland with an age focus. Experts say it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

“What we’re seeing these days is a lot of interest in more urban communities, and I think … that is really driven by (baby) boomers,” said Kathryn McCamant a co-founder of Nevada City, Calif.-based CoHousing Partners – a real estate development firm that consults on cohousing projects around the nation, including PDX Commons. “So it’s really empty nesters who are ready to give up the big house … (and) live in walkable neighborhoods and create a community where they have a sense of place.”

According to a May report by the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Americans age 65 and older is expected to nearly double to 83.7 million by 2050. McCamant said many of those people don’t want to land in their grandfathers’ retirement home, and she’s already developed around the U.S. numerous projects with concepts similar to PDX Commons.

The Portland development will include approximately 25 units on three to four floors. As much as 40 percent of the space will be dedicated to common areas like communal kitchens, game rooms and rooftop patios. By comparison, many condominium complexes top out at just 5 percent.

“What keeps people active and healthy?” McCamant queried. “It’s being engaged and having a strong social network. It makes a huge difference in your long-term health.”

The PDX Commons group won’t start hammering out specific design details until sometime this fall, but Swenson and his partners have already worked for more than a year to build their community. They host regular potluck dinners to get to know each other.

“We are not going to go peacefully to the continuing care facility – that’s not going to be the story, as much as I like to gum my food,” PDX Commons member and former Portland Development Commission manager Lew Bowers said tongue in cheek. “This is (where) really proactive adults … take charge and build a community, and a building around it.”

The PDX Commons team is evaluating several sites. One is a lot where developer Ben Kaiser has proposed building his BackBridge Lofts, near North Williams Avenue and Northeast Ivy Street. Another is a lot that Kaiser owns near North Albina Avenue and Cook Street. A third is on property owned by developer Eric Cress, at Southeast 43rd Avenue and Belmont Street.

The team is hoping to have an option to buy one of those lots within the next 30 days. Members will likely partner with a fee developer to build the project and carry construction financing, and then purchase the development upon completion.

That is a lot more palatable to PDX Commons member and retired developer Tom Bard, a co-founder of ScanlanKemperBard Cos. He would rather take on the new multifamily project than renovate his single-family home in the Beaumont-Wilshire neighborhood.

“There’s a huge difference between sharing the fruits of your efforts with 25 other households versus taking on speculation independently,” he said. “And it will take about the same length of time to do either one of them.”

Also, unlike the “If you build it, they will come” mentality in which developers typically operate, the PDX Commons project will be nearly 100 percent leased before ground is broken. Bard said banks like that.

Approximately a year of design work remains, and McCamant will shepherd PDX Commons members through that process. Construction is expected to require a year, so move-in may take place in fall 2016.

With such an integrated community of tenants, new challenges will no doubt arise. For instance, what will happen when tenants want to sell their units? How will the cohousing community balance the need to vet prospective buyers with the need to respect sellers’ desire to cash out?

Members acknowledge it will be an ongoing effort, but say the pros outweigh the cons. They know from experience.

“It’s not exactly like a marriage, but hey, you know, you argue in a marriage and you figure out ways to keep moving on if the bond is tight enough,” Bowers said.