You won’t have to worry about blowing out your flip-flop on a pop top in Jimmy Buffett’s retirement community, appropriately dubbed “Latitude Maragaritaville.” Sure, residents might still be searching for their lost shaker of salt, but that seems about normal when you’re discussing Parrot Heads – the old-school equivalent of modern-day fan-boys and -girls, but for Buffett fans.
It was 1977 when the song Margaritaville was released, and it is still playing strong on the radio, jukeboxes, and digital playlists. In the mid-1980s Buffett and his company, Margaritaville Holdings, opened their first Margaritaville restaurant in Key West, Florida, a long-term residence for Buffett. The brand continued to grow with their own clothing line and over 30 restaurants worldwide with at least 10 same-named resorts.
Now, on the newest wave of Margaritaville nostalgia comes the new retirement community Latitude Margaritaville. Retirees over the age of 55 can live and play in a tropical paradise, living out their cheeseburger fantasies and perhaps even growing their pencil thin mustaches. The first community is already being built in Daytona, Florida. The Latitude offers close to 7,000 single-family homes starting in the low $200,000 to the mid-$300,000 range. The first phase to open for purchase will be ready for sale the beginning of this summer.
Of course, the features of the community are based on the concepts of fun, frozen concoctions that helps you hang on – and music! Main features in this Parrot Head-themed community includes golf courses, amphitheater with live entertainment, pool, gym, lots of Margaritaville based food and drink with a variety of other amenities.
The community focuses on enticing baby boomers into following their desires of warm climate retirement. Since the announcement of Daytona’s community, they received over 10,000 inquiries. They plan to be officially open in January 2018 with their second Latitude Margaritaville community opening the end of 2018 in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
“People have said for years that someone needs to build a Parrot Head retirement community,” said Kathy Pfister, president of the Parrot Heads fan club in Paradise with 25,000 members, told Realtor.com reporter Natalie Way. “This way we can continue to party with each other into our golden years!”
“Historically, senior housing communities here [in Daytona] have done well,” said George Mueller Jr. with the Mueller Development Group in Florida. “If you are going to attract this group, it would appear that Florida would be the right spot. And, if Buffett can deliver on what these folks are expecting from eating ‘Cheeseburgers in Paradise,’ then it will probably be another one of Buffett’s successful ventures.”
Others, however, have some concerns, including that the concept will become tiresome as a permanent living condition instead of just a themed vacation, and that boomers will feel that they have been “relegated to living in the past” and avoid the communities.
So, boil some shrimp and turn on the blender for a paradise-filled retirement. At least you can watch the hockey game in warm weather, right?
**Update as of 6/8/17 Reservations for units will start this summer for Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach and registrations are already being accepted.
*Rendered image courtesy of Minto Communities.
Heather Elwing-Dixon is the assistant editor for Think Realty Magazine. She can be reached at hdixon@affinityworldwide.com.
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