Les Strech, Founding Principal, Varcity

In an interview with Invest:, Les Strech, founding principal of Varcity, which builds intergenerational retirement communities on college campuses, discussed university-branded communities, intergenerational learning, and the relationships shaping healthy longevity. “Our long-term vision is to build communities where all ages and all people can live life together,” Strech said.

What is Varcity, and what needs led to its creation?

Our long-term vision is to build communities where all ages and all people can live life together. For centuries, humans have proven to flourish in that type of community.

Varcity is creating the first national brand of university-branded retirement communities through public-private partnerships.

How did this happen? Our leadership team had the fortunate opportunity to spend several years thinking. That time thinking was devoted to the boomer generation and the future of higher education. The baby boomers, who today are between 62 and 80 years old, have repeatedly rejected societal norms. They are now approaching retirement differently. They are living…not fading like many have seen their parents do. Across the country, boomers are pausing to consider what it looks like to live with intention. There is a deepening pursuit to live with purpose and increase their healthspan…not just lifespan. 

Regarding higher education, universities face an enrollment cliff as fewer 18-year-olds reach traditional college age each year. This is one of the first times in American history there are more 60-year-olds than 18-year-olds. The question facing them is not simply whether or not fewer people value the pursuit of a college degree. There are fewer people reaching the age at which Americans have traditionally enrolled, and more people are asking whether every 18-year-old should immediately follow the same path. That creates pressure (at Varcity we call it opportunity) for universities to think more broadly about traditional and nontraditional students.

As we considered boomers and higher ed, we traveled to several dozen university-connected retirement communities across the country. We found the closer those communities were to campus, both geographically and through programming, the better outcomes were created for the university and for the boomers who resided there. 

Our initial partnerships are with Purdue University and Texas A&M.

How have those first projects progressed?

We broke ground on our 13-acre development on the Purdue University campus earlier this month and will host the grand opening in the summer of 2028. Both the university and Purdue For Life have been exceptional partners as we memorialized the public-private partnership through our licensing and affiliation agreements. The early momentum has been really encouraging as we have already started taking deposits about a year earlier than expected. 

The public announcement for Varcity at Purdue was quickly followed with our announcement of the 15-acre development on campus at Texas A&M. The P3 relationships with those universities have offered confidence and credibility to other large Division I universities that Varcity has a bespoke residential solution to advance key university initiatives and bring a new resident and consumer to their campus.

You mentioned the concept of “lifelong ascent.” What does that mean for older adults?

From birth, people grow, learn, travel, face hardship, respond, and continue developing. You are continually learning and ascending as you navigate and grow from challenges. That ascent often flattens after retirement and after your children have grown and gone because careers and families no longer provide the same social, mental, and physical engagement. Social circles often shrink, and staying home becomes easier. 

The university-branded retirement communities we bring to these iconic universities are designed to build a pathway for lifelong ascent. It is a place where it is “normal” to continue to grow and be challenged mentally and engaged socially and physically. It’s for an expanded residential audience that continues to pursue truth, belonging, and purpose through their 70s, 80s, 90s, and beyond.

Somehow it became normal to fade as we age…rather than remain fully engaged. College campuses have been the epicenter of the pursuit of truth for generations, but that opportunity should not be limited to people ages 18 to 25. What better opportunity to pursue truth in your 60s and 70s than in a philosophy class or a lecture series or at a tailgate with a beer with friends? The same with belonging and purpose. There is a sense of belonging that so many feel when they are on the campus of the university they love. So many shared traditions. Fans with different political views can put those differences aside to support their institution. 

How is Varcity different from traditional senior living?

Senior living has served an important function in American aging. About 100 years ago, aging Americans largely had two options: hospital or home. Assisted living introduced a more home-like clinical option, and it expanded rapidly as it met a real need.

However, most people still associate senior living with physical decline and view it as a need-based move. 

Varcity has kept the question “what’s normal?” at the center of the design of our built environment and the operating model. While there are small assisted living and memory care options available, it’s not normal to live in a residential clinical environment. Our members (aka residents) who move into a Varcity community have a health concierge available that can be turned on and off as an amenity.

Through partnerships between our onsite longevity team and the Texas A&M University’s School of Public Health or the Purdue University school of Health and Human Sciences, world-class healthcare resources are available on-demand. Most Americans age at home with on-demand health care resources. The problem with that choice for many is that it leaves you isolated from vibrant social circles. Varcity allows the best of both worlds: a vibrant community of growing and thriving peers with on-demand access to the top clinical minds in their fields on university campuses. 

What value can older adults bring back to university communities?

First, universities benefit because they have a new, well-resourced, engaged customer to the daily ecosystem of campus. Many of our Varcity residents are engaged in lifelong learning initiatives hosted at the school. 

For the people, successful communities thrive in an environment of reciprocity. Communities where everyone contributes something and takes something. Some of the most influential people in my life are the older adults who invested in me at a young age. They shared wisdom with me over and over on winning in the marketplace or in my marriage. What I brought to them was energy and life and ideas to our meetings. In traditional senior living, the environment is not structured to advance the law of reciprocity daily. Oftentimes, residents may receive meals, housekeeping, and other services without a meaningful expectation that they contribute anything in return. 

We worked to keep the law of reciprocity as a centerpiece in building out the Varcity ecosystem. Through intentional design, we bring the ability for people of all ages to both give and receive.

Texas A&M’s Charlotte Sharp Children’s Center is across the street from the planned Varcity community, creating a naturally occurring multigenerational setting. We held student focus groups early on to listen to students’ thoughts of retirement villages on campus. Honestly, the responses were hilarious. Some raised eyebrows at first. But when the host asked whether a retired Halliburton CFO could add value to a business student by reviewing their business plan or graduate thesis…you saw the light bulb go off for the students. We asked if someone who built a career as a photographer or magician or musician would add value to someone pursuing that major. Students began asking how quickly we could build a Varcity at their school. 

What are the main challenges to expanding the model?

Capital has been the first constraint because these are nine-figure developments. After thorough underwriting analysis of the market and university brand, we approach the university with a commitment to invest well over $100 million into campus infrastructure and require zero commitment from them. It is all upside.

That offers tremendous appeal. With that said, the fluctuation in interest rates, construction costs, and tariffs have made ground-up development really tough for any asset class. The national need for forward-thinking, relevant residential options for the boomer is soaring, and our solution has brought investors out from hiding. With Varcity communities now set to open in the next couple of years, our success is beginning to attract capital from LPs who have not traditionally focused on this asset class. 

I would say another challenge has been the traditional definition of a student. Universities often distinguish between traditional and nontraditional students. More institutions are now considering how to increase the number and range of nontraditional learners. That shift makes the conversation about welcoming older adults to campus easier than it was when we began.

How could Varcity change thinking about education and retirement?

When people transition from a primary career and their children have grown, there is an opportunity to reconsider purpose. Humans can flounder without purpose. College towns offer life, energy, and vibrancy, and our goal is to introduce a full spectrum of living around that experience. We want Varcity to become the brand standard for increasing age diversity in college towns.

During our research, I attended a class led voluntarily by an 80-year-old former appellate judge about Supreme Court rulings. Older adults and traditional students chose sides based on their reading, not their ages. Two older women sat beside a young woman with blue hair and argued for the same position. They were sisters in arms. They faced an opposing group of an older gentleman and a fraternity-looking student on the other side. It was beautiful.

There are few settings where those people would naturally become “teammates.” The classroom made the interaction possible because they debated a topic rather than making assumptions about one another. That is when humans flourish: They challenge ideas and pursue truth together. We want to create many more opportunities for that kind of connection.