Senior priority

Take a walk through The Terraces and you might mistake it for a luxury hotel.

The only clues it might be a retirement community are the ramp into the pool and the wider hallways with discreet grab bars. Otherwise, the white-tablecloth restaurant, tasteful artwork, chandeliers and gurgling fountains might make you think it's the Ritz-Carlton instead.

The $70 million Terraces project in Bonita Springs is just one of at least a half dozen senior-housing projects in the Fort Myers-Naples area. This surge of renovations and new construction comes on the heels of a recession that halted financing for new development for nearly eight years.