Rancho Mission Viejo Unveils News 55+ Amenity

By Alicia Venter

Rancho Mission Viejo prides itself on its intergenerational options. The active 23,000-acre ranch and farm, habitat reserve and residential community has again expanded its offerings with The Club at Gavilán Ridge, a 55+ exclusive amenity bringing a slew of new features to the community.

Officially open to the Rancho Mission Viejo community on Monday, July 13, The Club at Gavilán Ridge is a five-acre space that includes a bar, garden patio, barbecue patio, lap pool and spa, pickleball courts, bocce ball courts and main clubhouse with a fitness center, ballroom and studio rooms.

It is surrounded by homes of The Village in Gavilán Ridge, a community in Rancho Mission Viejo designed exclusively for 55+ residents.

“We have numerous amenities throughout the entire ranch that are exclusive for the 55+, but this is to be the largest and the newest amenity that’s opening for that audience,” Rancho Mission Viejo Vice President of Marketing Stephanie Walker said. “We kind of refer to it as the crown jewel for all of Gavilán, because of the size, the scale and pretty phenomenal components of the site.”

Rancho Mission Viejo is a master-planned, intergenerational community that offers both family-friendly, all-age neighborhoods and dedicated 55+ active adult villages.

The Club at Gavilán Ridge is perched on a prominent ridgeline at the top of the village, offering expansive backcountry views and an open-air design. It will include a visitor center concierge. Residents of the 55+ Gavilán neighborhood get exclusive access to these age-qualified amenities while maintaining full access to all-age facilities, allowing them to balance family time with grandkids and quiet retreats.

“They really get the best of both worlds, which is perfect,” Walker said. “We’re an intergenerational community, so you know this allows for them to be near their grandkids. They can be at the pool during the day with their grandkids, and then, if later in the afternoon, they want to have some more passive quiet time at a different retreat, they have that luxury as well. Given that the community as a whole has been around now for over 12 years since we opened, there’s just that natural intergenerational draw.”

A dedicated, on-site “Ranch Life” team, separate from the developer, handles consistent event programming. The new club will feature a staffed bar from Thursday through Sunday for happy hours and theme nights, alongside a signature bi-weekly or monthly Sunday brunch. The club is expected to draw residents from older villages at Rancho Mission Viejo, bridging the geographic gaps to create a cohesive community feel.

“Ranch Life, who’s in charge of all these activities and events, they do a really good job at making sure they’re really almost bridging that village-to-village gap, so there’s a true community feel, and everybody is welcome at this new space,” Walker said.

In October, the village of Rienda will open its final three all-age neighborhoods, consisting of 132 homes. The community intentionally designs diverse housing products: entry-level buyers get attainability and a “wider backyard” via nature reserves, while a staggering 85% to 90% of buyers in the community’s higher-end neighborhoods are existing residents “moving up” rather than leaving the Ranch.

“These are all-age neighborhoods that will open in October, and those will be the last three neighborhoods in the village of Rienda,” Walker said. “The club is so significant. We see grandparents and parents who bring their kids out here, and their kids end up buying in one of the Rienda neighborhoods, one of the all-age neighborhoods, and that’s such a beautiful thing at this point in the lifespan of the community. We are so excited to, after the big focus on Gavilán here over the next couple months, be able to unveil those homes.”

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