By Bob Dillon, AIA
On Tuesday September 24th, the AIA Interior Architecture Knowledge Community and the AIA Design for Aging Knowledge Community co-hosted a webinar focused on the Living Out community in Palm Springs, California. Living Out is California’s only luxury 55+ community designed specifically for active LGBTQ+ individuals.
Loren Ostrow, the driving force, and current Chief Executive Office and President of Living Out presented a detailed history of the project from inception through construction and shared the program and design of this recently completed project.
For decades Loren had dreamed of using his knowledge as a leader in the LGBTQ+ community, his background in both large project real estate development and real estate management, to create a safe and supportive living environment for LGBTQ+ seniors where they could live openly in a welcoming and inclusive environment free of discrimination. With the highest per capita gay population in the United States, Palm Springs was an obvious choice for this inaugural project.
The 9-acre Living Out property includes over 120 apartment units ranging in size from 1,100 sf to 1,800 sf, a chef-driven restaurant and adjacent piano bar that are both open to the public, a fitness center, outdoor swimming pool, art studio, game rooms, wellness center, walking trails, community gardens, citrus grove, outdoor event spaces, dog park, and a 5,000-sf retail space dedicated to pets, pet grooming, daycare and boarding.
Decades in the making, Loren and his long-time business partner Paul Alanis began working in earnest on Living Out over the past ten years to assemble the programming, site, and financing needed to bring their vision to reality. In early 2024 Living Out opened its door to new residents and the larger community of Palm Springs.
Loren has said that: “As LGBTQ people, we had to learn how to navigate a world that wasn’t built for us. But now Living Out reverses the paradigm by building a world especially for us.”
We welcome you to view our photo gallery of the Living Out facility here.
About the speaker: Loren Ostrow is a real estate developer and Principal of KOAR International, LLC based in California. He is a well-known member of the LGBTQ+ community both as an activist and philanthropist. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Los Angelese LGBT Center, The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, and Congregation Kol Ami in Los Angeles. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Rochester, and a Juris Doctor degree from Stanford University Law School.