Choosing a retirement residence can be an overwhelming experience with so many lifestyle options to choose from to maintain (or improve) one’s quality of life. Here are three residences opening in 2021 from retirement resort living to affordable housing in your community.
SUMMERWOOD RETIREMENT RESORT/REGENCY RETIREMENT, Okanagan
Set to open May 1, 2021.
www.regencyresorts.ca/summerwood-retirement-resort/
Independent Living, contact Ed Hall Edh@regencyresorts.ca
Ed Hall, chairman of Regency Retirement Resorts Limited, is excited about the new Summerwood Retirement Resort opening in May. “I don’t know that any other group in our industry refers to themselves as a retirement resort. We’re kind of unique in that way. And we coined this expression about 15 years ago when we introduced our first retirement resort in the Okanagan Valley. Basically, what differentiates Regency Retirement Resort is a serious commitment to life enrichment.”
Hall and his team stress the importance of having pride in where you live. “Your mom is going to blossom,” he says. “We’re going to offer and deliver a suite of services that is going to make her life more enriching, more enjoyable and more engaging than she’s currently enjoying.”
Architecturally, Summerwood has a strong feeling of resort luxury. “It feels like a place where you want to spend time, where you want to live, where you want your loved ones to live,” says Hall. “Summerwood also offers amenity-enriched services. For example, when you go to a Four Seasons Hotel or a Fairmont Hotel, it has a beautiful lounge, a beautiful spa, fitness equipment, swimming pools, theatres, reception rooms, and wine-tasting rooms. We have all that. One of our favourite cute expressions is ‘Cruise Ship Living Everyday… without getting seasick!’”
“And the really neat thing about this new residence is we were able to negotiate a deal with the city, where we were able to develop half the property, but the other half of the property is a two-acre nature parkland that is going to be left in its natural state forever. And it’s for the exclusive use of Summerwood residents.”
The residence will be welcoming their first residents in April with generous early bird incentives to their first residents.
WISTERIA PLACE BY OPTIMA LIVING, Steveston
Opening Spring 2021
604-338-5280
maureen.fakaro@optimaliving.ca
Wisteria Place’s Community Relations Manager Maureen Fakaro has been busy reaching out to people and businesses in the Richmond suburb of Steveston, the latest location for the Optima Living group of retirement residences.
“One of the pieces that’s really important to Optima Living is education and resourcing,” says Fakaro. “We aim to be leaders for our residents and their family members, but also for seniors in BC and Alberta seeking information and guidance for their vibrant living options. We’re very connected to the universities in Western Canada, including the University of Manitoba. We’re working with leading experts in brain health, supporting people in aging vibrantly, and understanding individual needs.”
“We are an independent living community,” she says. “I’ve done a lot of connecting with partners in Richmond, which are organizations that offer resources for seniors. This year, with the limitations and restrictions [of COVID-19], it’s been so awesome to see our virtual community grow and make new, meaningful connections.”
Wisteria Place by Optima Living backs onto a beautiful green park with pathways that go straight to Steveston village. The residence is pet friendly and an off-leash park is within a short walking distance. Residents can get anything they need for support, services, a library, and great village shops with a riverside walkway.
One-hundred-and-seven deluxe one-bedroom suites will enjoy great views, and one guest suite allows residents to invite their families or visitors to come and stay.
“Everybody’s excited about our in-suite laundry as this can be hard to come by,” says Fakaro. Each suite is also equipped with kitchenettes and good-sized bathrooms.
But Wisteria’s priorities delve deeper than unit features. Afterall, it is the people living and working in a community that make it special!
“The foundational focus on quality care and values where each individual is respected and honoured, and manifesting Life in Harmony in the diverse community is priority,” says Fakaro. “Beyond that, the building will have a top-notch emergency response and security system along with a Japanese flair in the architecture and design, and even the food will have unique ethnic options, too. We can’t forget that it’s in a residential area and we have our own Koi pond, Zen garden, and private courtyard. The attention to first-class resources and the commitment to help our residents live vibrantly as long as possible is paramount.”
“Our staff team will be there to provide people with whatever they need to create and maintain their exciting, vibrant life with our in-house resources and services, as well as other connections they may need.”
BUTTERTUBS PLACE/NANAIMO AFFORDABLE HOUSING SOCIETY, Nanaimo
To open in fall 2021.
250-755-1158
info@nahs.ca
Chief Executive Officer at Nanaimo Affordable Housing Society (NAHS), Andrea Blakeman, shared how this housing project began its evolution six years ago when NAHS inherited a site from the George R. Pearkes Housing Society. Located on Buttertubs Marsh, the concept grew over time, allowing NAHS to build a large two-phase project.
“We put together a response to a request for proposals from BC Housing for both phases with two different funding programs, zoned for senior housing,” says Blakeman. “A number of things are different about this building. It is designed for independent seniors. What came to NAHS when the property was transferred is one of the few Seniors Supportive Housing Programs left in the province, which currently includes a daily three-course dinner, weekly light housekeeping and Lifeline®. We will have a large commercial kitchen and there will be a variety of meal programmes available for residents. There is a large dining area, activity space and outside patio on the ground floor near the marsh, as well as a large second-floor patio on the north side of the building for residents.”
Other unique aspects to this residence are units with spectacular views for every budget from modest to low-end. NAHS recently partnered with the local chapter of the BC Old Age Pensioner’s Organization, which will have office space and provide activity programming to participating tenants in the building as well as support services – all onsite!
“We get to work with a huge variety of people from all sorts of backgrounds and really assist a lot of people,” says Blakeman. “I am blessed in that I am doing something I really love, creating community. I am a community builder and have been doing that one way or another my entire adult life. This is right up my alley from every perspective.”
She continues, “Most of our buildings are for seniors, and this building will likely be 65-plus, as well. The two new sites we’ve been awarded by BC Housing – one in Hammond Bay and one in Parksville – are both independent seniors and families community housing projects. What that means is that independent people from varied backgrounds and economic situations can all find a home that suits them. For example, a multi-generational family: grandparents could be residing in one unit; and their kids and grandkids in one of the townhomes, all on one site in Parksville. Pretty exciting stuff!”
What about furry friends at Buttertubs?
“We have five bachelor units on the ground floor where residents in those units can have a small dog,” says Blakeman. “From level two and up, there are bachelor suites, one-bedroom, one-bedroom with den and two-bedroom units where residents can have an indoor cat or small pet. Buttertubs is a five-minute drive or short transit ride to the downtown core of Nanaimo, yet it feels like you are in the country. You see deer, hawks, herons, and turtles. It’s wildlife central!”
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