LGBT-friendly retirement complex pitched for Palm Springs, possibly flagship of chain

Two long-time business partners who used to develop casinos together are rolling the dice on a plan to build LGBT-friendly retirement communities.

Their first stop: Palm Springs.

"Notwithstanding Palm Springs' reputation as a place for gay people to come and live, I think as people get older, particularly LGBT people, the environments can be really hostile," said Loren Ostrow of Koar International.

"I think people need a place to come and get old and be with their community and have security, and comfort, and respect, and dignity," he said. "That's what this is going to provide."

Ostrow and business partner Paul Alanis have been working together for the past 42 years, including a stint starting and operating casinos. The pair say that a site next to the Courtyard by Marriott in Palm Springs is the perfect place for a mixed-use condominium development catering to LGBT retirees, which they hope will be the flagship for a chain of similar 55+ communities.

“There are very few market-driven opportunities for LGBT people to retire to,” Ostrow said. "Our plan is to do this and then to try to replicate this in other markets."

Acting as Koar Palm Springs, LLC, the pair in September purchased nine acres at the northwest corner of Hermosa Drive and Tahquitz Canyon Way in a $5 million deal, according to property records. The aim is to get through city approvals by the end of 2018 and break ground in 2019.

Ostrow, who sits on the board of directors of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, has dreamed of building senior housing for the gay community for decades. He remembers discussing the idea with local philanthropist Rob Wright, a donor to the The LGBT Community Center, while visiting Palm Springs in the 1990s.

"It's been sitting with me for 25 years," said Ostrow, 66. "Finally, we're doing it."

Preliminary designs for the to-be-named development call for a Y-shaped, three-story complex arranged so that residents in each of 96 units will get a view of the mountains. The community also will include a flurry of amenities: a restaurant and bar, a gym, a pool or two, a parking structure for residents and retail suites fronting Tahquitz Canyon.

Additionally, the complex will hire an assisted living company to help residents with things like daily hygiene or off-site errands and entertainment. The important thing, Ostrow said, is that the caretakers be “culturally competent with the LGBT community” – soothing residents who might otherwise hesitate to hire a home care company for fear of prejudice.

The Koar project, a mix of one- and two-bedroom units, is being designed by Robert Rotman and Tarzana-based firm Jerry Sherman Architect. The site was previously proposed for Vivante Palm Springs, an assisted living community by Nexus Development.

Ostrow and Alanis got their start as attorneys at the same law firm, then went into real estate together, developing Embassy Suites hotels in the late 1980s. From there, the duo began developing and operating casinos, often in riverboat gaming markets. They still own a casino in Louisiana.

There's precedent for LGBT-friendly housing in Palm Springs.

The city is home to Stonewall Gardens, a 24-unit assisted living facility community for LGBT seniors located in Uptown.

Another LGBT-centric development did not come to fruition. In 2011, Olivia Communities, an affiliate of the lesbian cruise company Olivia, bought the former Racquet Club site in Palm Springs in the hopes of reigniting its historic “prestige and glamour." But the project was beset by delays, and the restoration never came together.

Keep reading: Racquet Club owner doesn't want Palm Springs to make ex-Hollywood hangout a historic site

Ostrow said he wants to improve on earlier LGBT housing ventures. The next thing on his checklist: choosing a name.

"Everybody that I know says, 'No more rainbow, no more Stonewall,'" Ostrow said. "So I'm working on it."

Reach real estate and business reporter Amy DiPierro at amy.dipierro@desertsun.com.