ORLANDO, Fla.Don Kovac inserts a key, turns the lock and steps back in time. The one-bedroom, one-bath unit built in the 1960s has low ceilings, a small kitchen, little closets and 557 square feet reflecting a generation that didnt require much space in retirement.

This is not what the baby boomers want in a retirement community. They want big kitchens with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, walk-in closets, showers instead of tubs (unless they are Jacuzzis), wall space for flat-screen televisions and wireless Internet access.

And this is why Lutheran Haven in Oviedo, Fla., is part of a national trend that finds retirement communities reinventing themselves for the next generation of retirees, the silver tsunami of Americans just now entering their 60s.

The baby boomers want fitness, dining and fellowship, said Kovac, executive director of Lutheran Haven. We have no fitness equipment. We have a horseshoe pit nobody uses and a shuffleboard court. I dont think the boomers are going to want a shuffleboard court.

Elsewhere, retirement communities are linking with universities to attract college-educated boomers interested in lifelong learning. Glen

Meadows, in Glen Arm, Md., boasts of becoming the first in the nation to offer Masterpiece Living a program that stresses social, physical, spiritual and intellectual fulfillment.

CantaMia, a retirement community in Arizona, recently won recognition for its development specifically designed for boomers, including solar-heated green homes and a 30,000- square-foot facility that offers healthy cooking classes, Zumba, an indoor lap pool and a resort-style outdoor pool.

The wave of retirees is not here yet the first boomer turned 60 in 2006 but they are coming, and the retirement industry is already preparing for their arrival.

We need to start looking at this now, Kovac said. The wave is coming, and our campus is aging.

The transformation is taking place from working-class retirement communities such as Lutheran Haven to upscale facilities such as the Mayflower in Winter Park, Fla. Lutheran Havens most expensive unit, at $133,000, is about what the Mayflower charges for its entry-level apartment. Mayflowers most expensive is $670,170, along with a monthly fee of $3,886.

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Retirement communities being restyled to suit greater demands of baby boomers