Merrill Gardens at Solivita Marketplace

Talia

My grandmother hasn't been in Merrill Gardens at Solivita Marketplace for long, but they were very easy to work with. The apartment itself is very nice and very large. On the assisted living side, it seems that they have a lot of activities, and they have a lot of support. They have a really good setup there with their staff as well. I am very pleased with what I saw there so far. They supply a fully furnished kitchen. My grandmother has a washer and dryer. She has a dishwasher, microwave, refrigerator, and all of that. They have a swimming pool and a courtyard. So far, she hasn't had any negative experiences. I interacted with their director of nursing. She was really nice and very accommodating. My grandmother came from the hospital to their setting. The director of nursing did a really good job with their care coordination between the hospital discharge planning and coming to the facility. She was really good about it. My grandma is not a fan of the food, but the food is very subjective. They seemed like they had a lot of activities going on. As I was walking to my grandmother's apartment, I was able to see quite a bit of activity happening. I think they have a pretty good activities department. I will say that the activity content on her calendar looks really good.

Provider Response

Robert

Merrill Gardens at Solivita Marketplace is a nice and well-maintained facility. The staff is very caring and very pleasant people. They are very welcoming and also very patient with the residents, especially for those that need more time to get things done. There were a couple of minor hiccups moving in, but the maintenance people took care of those. I'm very happy how they responded fairly quickly to taking care of stuff. Dad seems to be comfortable there. He has a two-bedroom apartment, and he is on a waiting list for a one-bedroom. They have a fitness room, a nice restaurant, other dining areas outside, and a section where there's always coffee, light snacks, fruits, cookies/crackers, and some fresh water. There is a little kitchenette, too. Then there are games room, an activity room, an exercise pool, and a barbecue area. Another good thing about the place is that all the way around the building, there's a nice sidewalk for the residents to go and take walks. It is about a quarter of a mile, and it has nice and quiet areas along the path. Even though dad is independent living, the fee we are paying includes maid service that does light housekeeping. They'll do the kitchen, mop the floors, clean the bathrooms, and wash their linens (as they have washers and dryers in the apartments.) It's a very good facility.

Provider Response

Lu

I liked Merrill Gardens at Solivita Marketplace. It was a perfect facility. Unfortunately, it was full when I visited. I liked the director and the layout that they had. The only thing was residents have to come downstairs for their meals. They don't deliver it to their apartments. The facility was very homey, very welcoming, and very clean. I liked the diversity of the staff as well as the residents. They have a lot of different activities for individuals to do and get involved with. I liked the fact that they had different classes that the residents could partake in. I saw a salsa class that was going on and even if they weren't completely mobile, they could still join the class by using their arms. That was nice to see. They also had a fitness room and a movie theater. Everyone was very friendly, very warm-hearted, very knowledgeable, and open to answering and listening to questions. The nicest thing I loved about the staff was when I asked some questions, they called me back several days afterward.

Provider Response

Deborah

My husband is in Merrill Gardens at Solivita Marketplace. It's very well kept and caring. The staff is extremely kind, understanding, and friendly. The building is very well maintained. They have many activities. The food is really good. They provide quality care. It's beautiful. There's a pool, they have a movie theater where they have movies twice a week, there's a library, and they have activities scheduled every hour to two throughout the day. They have three meals a day and they have a long window to eat. They have like a three-hour window where they could come and get their food, bring it back to their apartment, or eat in the restaurant there. In between meals, they have snacks out for the residents. The staff checks on them every day to make sure they're OK. It was affordable.

Phyllis

My husband is now in Merrill Gardens at Solivita Marketplace. It's a lovely facility. He is in the memory care unit, and right now, they don't have activities for the memory care people where he is. There are two different wards, and he's in the ward where they're more active. There are walkers and wheelchairs, there's several of them in there, and they're still walking around. The rooms are beautiful. You have to furnish it yourself, you have to provide all your furniture, and you have to bring all of your toiletries, and everything like that. The price was not the best in the area, but some are much more expensive than that. The food is excellent. There are three meals a day with snacks in between. He has a large courtyard area to walk out into when the weather permits. My downside to it is they only have two staff members on duty to take care of 13 residents right now in his ward. So if you have someone in there who has special needs or requires more attention, it's inadequate for that. They are trying to fix that problem. I talked to the manager this morning, and he is trying to fix that problem because one of the downfalls is they need just somebody to come in and do housekeeping and laundry, and they are working on that. That would probably benefit the whole hallway. The women that work the daytime shift are very attentive to taking care of their special needs. From 8:00 until 6:00, they feed them three meals, so the ladies that work in the daytime are excellent. The ones that work at night, not so much, they're lacking there, so that could be a personnel problem. In terms of activities, they have a TV and that's all they have, so I have to give them a 1.

Provider Response

Irishimp11

My husband and I have lived here for six months and are part of the Independent Living group. I put off writing this for awhile since I wanted to be loyal to Merrill Gardens, but we have gone unheard with our complaints about the menu, and lack of ANY creative, 'chef-inspired' entrees. The truth is for the past four months or so, we have gone from several selections, servers taking our orders at a table to ONE meal a day being offered this way..the breakfasts and dinners are a sort of "motel 6 grab and go!' The entree at dinner is a hot selection (usually rice and different ways to cook a chicken OR 1/2 cold sandwich! The side selections are salad (mainly iceberg lettuce) or a balled macaroni, potato, or pasta salad and either a cookie or packaged pudding. Breakfast is a disgusting mishmash of hash, scrambled or hard boiled eggs, greasy, paper thin bacon, cold cereal (mainly raisin bran in the eat-in containers) small pre-packaged juices, once in awhile yogurt, coffee, and have to ask specially to get tea. Most of us teeter all this stuff on our laps since we use walkers, canes, and wheelchairs and have to find our own seating now. This manner of feeding us came about approx. 4 months ago..we were given several different reasons as to WHY we experience this dreadful selection, despite most of our people bitterly complaining that this is NOT what we came here for or are paying to receive! Lunch is about the same as we once enjoyed...we get served and there are three entrees and a few sides to choose from and a selection of drinks and served at a table. But even this is beginning to look meager. We were promised 'brunch' on Sundays and it began well, but now is the same selections (however better on Sunday) from a paper menu. I have spoken to Merrill Gardens a few miles away at Champions Gate and they are still enjoying the menus and being served in the dining room as we once enjoyed. Nothing has changed for them...so why are we suffering with this? We still have our Executive Chef here, but what is he doing?! Because of limited space I can't go into detail about all this, let me just say I have had grilled cheese and half fried french fries for my lunch selection seven days in a row. Someone has to listen! This is a shame how the quality no longer equals the amount of money we spend each month.

Reviewer RC#1008

Merrill Gardens at Solivita Marketplace was a three-story building. It's cold and sterile, but the staff I met was fine. The place was clean too.

Gloria

I toured both the assisted living and memory care sections of Merrill Gardens at Solivita Marketplace. I met the manager, and I know that he was looking out for the best for his residents, but I just didn't like the way he presented himself. I also think that they have more restrictions. The staff was wonderful. The place was nice, and the upkeep was good. It just didn't feel right for me.

Joan

Beautiful lobby and very friendly and efficient staff! Rooms are good sized and fully equipped.

Margaret

My mom has moved into Merrill Gardens at Solivita Marketplace. They were very professional, kind, and helpful people. I won't be able to describe the room as much because I haven't seen it. Right now, there are no activities. They don't even leave their rooms because of COVID. No one can visit them and so forth. We're not allowed to go there. I don't know about activities but I'm sure they have entertainment and they take them to the doctors if they're within 5 miles or something like that. My mom's enjoying the food. She hasn't been in the dining area; they deliver. They cannot socialize; they have to be very careful. They're very careful about COVID and exposure to COVID. So far, they have done very well. They respond to my queries. I haven't seen the food but my mother is enjoying it and she said she gets so much and it's delicious. She has just moved in last week. I haven't seen it and I have no clue about the facilities, but she told me it was totally disinfected and all those things prior to my mother moving in. I think it's a good value. We got a good price. She got the sale price. She hasn't done any activities. Right now, she is quarantined for two weeks.

Barbara

Merrill Gardens at Solivita Marketplace is excellent. They're very nice and helpful. The facility is very nice and clean, so we're quite pleased. My mother-in-law is in their assisted living, and they've got all kinds of stuff like bingo, board games, puzzles, a theater, a library, exercise room, crocheting, get-togethers, outings for shopping or dinner, and a little band comes in. They have stuff going on all the time. They have a beauty salon, and a fully functioning restaurant. They also have two cafes and a very nice outdoor area. They have an exercise area, in-facility physical therapy if you need that, and doctors that visit the facility. They do three meals a day in the restaurant, and they also have anytime dining that you can do in the cafes which is offered from 8 in the morning to 8 in the evening. My mother-in-law is horribly picky, but she seems to like the food quite well. The staff is excellent. Anytime my mother-in-law needs anything, they're right there.

Audrey

We visited Merrill Gardens at Solivita Marketplace, and they have a lot of amenities. They have movies, a bus that takes you shopping, and games that people play. I have a couple of friends who live there. They're definitely very good. My friend is in assisted living, and she has thing she wears around her neck and the nurse would come. My other friend is in assisted living because she needs help with the medicine although she's independent. The staff is really very nice, and the food was excellent. The layout was done very well. They had three different dining rooms, and I think it's great.

Dorothy

Mother is in Merrill Gardens at Solivita Marketplace. The grounds are every nice, and it's a brand-new facility. The atmosphere is very nice, and not at all like a nursing home. They have three restaurants, a bar, a beauty shop, and it feels like you're in a bustling area. She has a 1-bedroom in assisted living with a mini kitchen, a fridge, microwave, a sink, a family room, and off the bedroom, there's a full bath. You have to bring your own furniture. They have chair exercises and bingo. The food is very good, and the restaurants are open to the public, so you can come in and go there too.

BS

Merrill Gardens at Solivita Marketplace is one of the best we've seen in this area in terms of independent living, assisted living, and memory care. We got my mother-in-law admitted there a couple of months ago thinking that she could stand on her own and twist to be able to get into bed, but after rehab she's still not able to do it so they decided that she's not suitable for this community. I like this place very much and they're doing a really good job while my mother-in-law was there. But their rules are that you should be able to stand and rotate. The rooms were empty and you have to put in your own furniture, and her room wasn't very large. They don’t have an exercise room but they have physical therapists that go around to give all of the people there physical therapy. They have two movies every Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and they have bingo several times a week. And the food is outstanding, it's really the best and the chef there is really good. Their pricing is consistent with everyone else.