The Lodge at BridgeMill on Bells Ferry Road near the intersection with Sixes Road will be Cherokee County's largest rental residence for those 55 and older. It will fill a niche in the senior specialty housing market by offering 150 apartment homes in a single building with optional amenities, such as community dining, housekeeping and social and recreational activities.

WHAT IMPACT WILL IT HAVE?

Seniors are one of the fastest-growing segments of metro Atlanta's population, and Cherokee's senior population will grow faster than that of most of its neighboring counties.

The Atlanta Regional Commission projects that Cherokee's population of those 55 and older will swell from an estimated 29,000 to nearly 100,000 by 2030.

Builders are taking note. Many are building smaller homes or condos for older residents, and many counties have adopted special zoning categories for those neighborhoods. Cherokee was among the first in Georgia to do so.

What is new about these neighborhoods is the level of activities. Yesterday's retirees or near-retirees were more sedate. Today's are looking for golf, shopping trips, yoga and exercise and art classes.

"It's not a senior citizens center. It's an active lifestyle," said developer Greg Almquist of Almquist Hansen.

Sixes Road has become a major corridor for residential development in fast-growing Cherokee County, with homes up to

$1 million.

Almquist said his company projections show that half of seniors moving to Georgia are coming to be near grandchildren and families. The location in the center of a residential corridor seemed a natural fit to attract seniors whose families live along the corridor.

"We are putting a building near where their children are," he said.

The apartments will give older residents who don't want a mortgage a place to live or a chance to try the area out, Almquist said.

WHEN WILL IT BE DONE?

The Lodge will open for residents in September.

— Chris Quinn