What follows billions of dollars in coastal residential investment? Thousands of retiring baby boomers, along with all their needs and wants.

In the last three years, the Baja California coast from Tijuana to Ensenada has experienced an explosive growth in residential development. More than 1,500 houses and condos have been sold, 2,800 are in construction and close to 5,000 more are on the drawing board. The buyers are often retired U.S. citizens, 65 or older.

These new residents are an addition to the prior expatriate population. According to Mexico’s census of 2000, the Tijuana and Rosarito areas hosted more than 2,500 permanent foreign residents over 65 years of age, probably an underestimate.

To help fulfill the hopes of retirement, many of these residents may require some help. This is where assisted living comes in. As in the U.S., elderly residents may rely on professional services to provide care, anything from driving to the supermarket or recreational activities to basic or urgent health care.

A recent study conducted by the Tijuana Economic Development Corp. reveals that 45 percent of older residents in the Tijuana coastal region expect to need assisted living services within the next five years. Most had the income or insurance that would cover those costs. In the same study, 65 percent perceived medical services in Baja California to be good or excellent and considered the costs to be 30 to 50 percent lower than in the United States.

“There will be an explosive demand for assisted living services in Baja California in the coming years,” conclude Sughei Villa and Ismael Plasencia, the economics professors of Baja California State University who conducted the study.

Recently, Tijuana and Rosarito have attracted significant investment in high-end medical services beyond the popular dentists and laser eye surgeons. New facilities like Hospital Angeles, a state-of-the-art full-service hospital with more than 90 private rooms and Sanoviv, a luxurious oceanfront health-care facility, cater to patients from around the world. This medical infrastructure is supporting the emerging providers of assisted living in Baja, including In-Care, a new venture led by Marcia Tejeda, a 30-year veteran nurse from California, who coordinates a staff of 25 certified nurses that provide in-home care.

The Tijuana EDC, working with state and local officials, has developed a formal initiative to provide institutional support and regulatory structure with standards and certification of service providers comparable to what is found in the United States. Local efforts include a graduate program in gerontology for nurses at Universidad Ibero Americana, a Jesuit university. “These efforts will provide higher quality and reliability to U.S. citizens retiring in our coastal region,” says Oscar Escobedo, chairman of the Tijuana EDC.

Flavio Olivieri is an economic development specialist