Brookdale Lake View

Mark

Brookdale Lake View was very well organized. The layout was very nice. It's very inclusive. It has many options. It's a well-put-together organization. The staff all seemed pleasant enough, although I only met with the tour guide. They have many activities, they've got a large library, and they've got gaming, bingo, that sort of thing.

Lynda

I toured Brookdale Lake View for my mom. It was a little gloomy in there. They seemed friendly and it seemed pretty nice; I wouldn't give it a low score. It just seemed kind of dark because the lighting was dim, which is what I meant when I said, gloomy. We saw a single room and then a shared; they were fine. We didn't see any problems with the rooms. I would say the place was clean. I didn't have any negative thoughts about the maintenance of the building or anything. They were in groups and doing puzzles and stuff, and then other seniors were just in the downstairs lobby just talking amongst each other. So, they were able to do different things if they wanted to. There are senior citizens all over the place. Either they were sitting down talking with people or they were just sitting down and relaxing. I think it's dinner also, and I think they had just finished, so some were finishing up their meals and then leaving the dining room. I want to say it was a cafeteria and it was clean. They had an outdoor eating area, which also had a garden. They did have a grill because, I guess during the summer, they grill patties or hot dogs or whatever and they just take it inside for the residents to eat. They also get to plant and garden. They also have a third floor for residents who needed additional care because of memory loss, and it was a secure floor. They had an outdoor area, and that's very clean and very nice as well. The only reason I saw that is because we were on the fourth or fifth floor and we looked down and just so happened to see the third-floor balcony with the garden area.

Robert

My sister-in law stayed at Brookdale Lake View before she passed away. She was at the independent living for quite a while then toward the end she moved to assisted living. It's a multi-story building where they have two sets of elevators and a separate dining hall for assisted living people. The apartments range from a studio apartment to a one-bedroom apartment. We have been quite impressed with the staff too. They're friendly and very attentive. We ate in the dining room with her several times and the service people were all very capable and friendly. The staff keeps track of the residents well. They know if they are out of the building, in the dining room, or if at home in their apartment. They have a menu that has a fair number of selections. Half of it is basically for the basic menu, while the other side is approximately seasonal choices that change from month to month, and the food is adequate. They have an onsite rehab facility and the residents can make use of the fitness facilities even though they're not officially involved there. There's a library, public areas with seating that people can get together socially, as well as a private dining area where they could host private parties. They do group excursions at various preannounced destinations too.

Laura

Overall, I was extremely impressed with every small detail I saw in Brookdale Lake View. From its cleanliness to how it smelled, or the lack thereof. It presented itself like a four or five star hotel. The amount of space outside of the residence room is impressive. There are many options for someone if they want to stay in the building, sit and mingle with other residents, or find quiet times. They have a good array of activities for the residents. Their library and computer room are beautiful. They have a little store (which I think is wonderful). My mom was used to going to a little store down the street from us. It will help her acclimate knowing that she can just go down and pick up a few toiletries or a couple of things. I saw many residents that were up and about. A couple of old ladies were in the library just sitting there across from each other reading the paper. The dining area and the seating arrangements were nice. Everything's been spread out for social distancing. I've worked in the healthcare industry for 36 years (not in this type of healthcare). I know when the staff sees the marketing director walking somebody around, they know that's the daughter of a loved one and they could be acting on their best behavior. I've made a couple of calls there unexpectedly, just to see how I'm transferred around on the phone system and how people answered the phone. I was just thoroughly impressed. More importantly, I was able to see probably up to a dozen of residents who were all up and walking around with their rollators. Everybody was fully dressed, clean, neat, and one person had a CNA with him. The marketing director has been very kind and called a number of times just to follow up. He brought my mom a complimentary dinner so she could taste their food too. They're really very wonderful about this. I don't feel like they were hiding anything. I also liked that it actually feels like an upscale apartment building, and it has a lot of medical amenities that I know she will need. The fact that I can visit at all times and that she can leave at any time, I was grateful to hear that. Residents can come and go and are able to live their lives in an assisted living apartment or an independent living apartment.

C.L.A.

We were impressed from my first visit. The apartments are roomy and well-designed, the common areas are spacious and comfortable, the staff is professional and friendly, the meals are tasty, healthy and varied. Our mother has made friends and enjoyed a range of activities, without feeling forced to participate. When my brother and I are there, we think about moving in ourselves one day!

Jey Johnson

A NOTE OF RECOGNITION & APPRECIATION It is now five days after the roll out of Brookdale Vaccination Project. A sense of well-being permeates our community. This no doubt is a result of the vaccine. I want to take time to pay tribute to the Brookdale team that performed like the all-stars that they are; it was as if they were on a field of play, each in his or her position carrying out the task at hand! What was most amazing was we were treated as if we were precious cargo, and the sign read "Handle with care" and in some cases the sign read "Fragile" and we were treated as such. The MVP trophy does not go to an individual but to the entire team, it does not sit on a mantel! It arks over the Brookdale Lake View community, fueled by the uniqueness by each team member: a perpetual rainbow.

Paul

I have moved into Brookdale Lake View. It's been almost three months now. Some people consider this assisted living, but I think it's independent living too for people without any type of medical condition, so I believe it's both. There are seniors here that walk around the room and totally mobile and everything else. The staff is extremely short-handed. Fifty percent of their staff or even higher are not around because of the Covid contact rules and shifting. The executive director isn't even here all the time anymore. The staffing problem is extreme. As for the food, well, have you been into a VA Hospital? It is exactly the same. They use maybe like a 3-oz cup of ice cream inside a whole thing with a lid, their juices are in a plastic cup that is about maybe up to 6 oz with a foil lid, and the can of soda that you get is the standard 6-oz aluminum can, so that could give you an idea of the food. I'm in the stand-by room. It's one that after a certain length of time, you have to either move out or make your choice into the better room that actually has an outside balcony. At the moment I'm in a room that has a strictly minimal bathroom but it's all handicap equipped, I have a table and a couple of chairs, and I have a cable TV hooked up. The kitchen got the bare necessities, an electric stove with four burners, an electric oven and a standard refrigerator. This is the first facility I've ever been in, so as far as I'm concerned, it's probably the worst. The only way you can contact anybody to deal with anything in the building is through their intercom system, and that intercom system just happens to be only a cellphone system. There are two big buildings connected together with stairs and passageways. There are a total of four elevators and for quite a while, we only have one elevator running. The staff work hard; they're great employees. The menu system, the way it is now is you get two meals a day either breakfast and lunch or breakfast and dinner.

Provider Response

BML

At 88 my mom moved to the city to be closer to me. For the last eight years has lived in Brookdale Lakeview in a spacious one bedroom apartment. She selected Brookdale Lakeview location because of the bright, airy entrance, the availability of apartments on lower flows with a treetop views, and the 151 bus stop at the corner. The bonus has been the wonderful, caring staff along easy parking.

Iris

I was impressed with Brookdale. I thought the rooms were OK. Some studios face the lake and others face the street. All the rooms were small and clean. I was treated well by the director who took us around. The dining setup was fine, and they had a library. The employees I came in contact with were fine and very friendly.

SS

Brookdale Lake View was near the shore. The community was quite good, and the people seemed educated. It's a nice environment in general. I liked the rooms. I was looking for a one-bedroom with a den, and it was fine. I saw their dining place, and I met people in the hallway. They had a wellness center. The staff told me that the assisted living is very similar to independent living and that they also get enough assistance. The staff was very friendly. We had a very nice impression of the place.

Phoebe

I like the layout, the general appearance, and the location of Brookdale Lake View. I also liked the layout and storage of the rooms. The place was clean and spacious. The person who showed me around was very nice and took time to show me everything. The dining room seemed very inviting and I liked the menu. A couple of people were playing Yahtzee, watching TV, and doing individual activities.

Linda

Brookdale Lakeview Crossing pretty much does everything for my mom. They have 24-hour service and excellent meals that she loves. They take care of her rooms and clothes. They're also a lot more affordable, but they still seem to do great care and take her to the doctor. It worked out perfectly. She has a studio apartment with one bedroom, a full bathroom, small kitchen sink, and refrigerator and microwave. The size is large enough for a twin-size bed, a couple of chairs, a dresser, TV and everything, so it's perfect for one person. My mom said the food is great. Everything is on one floor, so it's all easy to get to.

Josef

Brookdale Lake View is pretty nice and the food here is quite good. The people here are really nice and help you whenever possible. I have only been here for a month, but there are a lot of activities if I want to join in, like cards, polo, and outings.

Judith

The woman who gave us the tour of Brookdale Lake View was very cheerful, very pleasant, had a great deal of interest in making sure my mother was comfortable, and offered information as well as answered our questions. The staff was very well acquainted with the residents. However, it's an older facility and not quite as upscale as other places. She didn't go with that place because the apartments that were available were on a lower floor, and the light was obscured by another building.

Nilda041734

I visited Brookdale (Brookdale Lake View). It was a very nice place. I really liked it. They had everything, including a lot of different activities. They had meals and health care for them. The staff was very nice. I’m very pleased.

Laura447823

I like Brookdale Lake View because it’s very friendly and really nice. It was like being in someone’s home. The dining area was very nice.

Lisa257686

Brookdale Lakeview was way too big, especially for a 93-year-old woman who can't walk far, but the place was fine.

Provider Response

Kathleen115829050

Our visit to Brookdale was a wonderful experience. We had dinner, which looked like we'd gone out to a restaurant. It was beautiful. The facility was excellent.

Barbara103283750

I visited Brookdale Lake View (Formerly Kenwood of Lake View) and it was nice, very clean, and the food was good.

Virginia45

My mother was in the independent living of Brookdale Lakeview, and she decided to move into their assisted living facility. The director of the assisted living is very warm and welcoming. They have activities.

Tom106501550

We visited Brookdale Lake View. We didn't like that one. It was very outdated. It needed a lobby renovation, and something needed to update in the common areas too. However, the tour was very good. The rooms were very large. The room sizes were great, but we didn't consider it because my parents would not be comfortable with the views. It seemed very old in the hallways, and it was long and had confusing corridors. You could really get lost if you were someone elderly. However, we liked that the rooms were big.

Provider Response

Mark106638350

We went to Brookdale, and it was really nice. Dad liked Broodale. It was beautiful. If he was going anywhere, he would have wanted to go to Brookdale. The director took us around, gave us lunch, and showed us the different apartments. Everything was nice and well kept. Dad enjoyed the food. It was very welcoming. Every Friday, they had some kind of sing-a-long, and my dad liked to sing. They had activities going on like scrabble and bingo, and they had a game room. They had trips to casinos. They took them out for meals if they wanted to go and trips to the store and doctor's appointments.

Suzanne22

Brookdale Lake View didn't have the larger apartments or they have very few of them. During the course of my investigation on what is available and what might work, I was thinking maybe my husband and I would move in somewhere together. At the same time I was looking at places where it's just he who would live. At the Lake View, I didn't feel that we would be very comfortable there together. It's also more expensive. The dining area is very nice and very pleasant. It's really lovely. I think they have white tablecloths on the tables all the time. I'm not positive of that, but I'm sure they did while we were there for lunch. Lunch was excellent. The food is very good. The staff who I met was lovely. They are very nice people. The person I was referred to for the tour kept in touch with me. That's very nice. I didn't pay a lot of attention to the activities because it wasn't going to work out. It's an independent living facility for seniors and then they have assisted living services available in a kind of menu of choices. But by the time you add its cost to the basic cost of the apartment, it became for us prohibitively expensive.

Caring98000950

I visited Brookdale Lake View for my mother. What gives Brookdale Lake View an edge from the other facility is that their bathrooms had been more extensively and more carefully modernized and the additional thing that puts it very high is the location in Lakeview. Food was very good too. The staff was wonderful. First of all, they were extremely well-informed, welcoming, friendly, and candid in their responses. From what I observed in two visits, they had a very good open and friendly relationship with all the residents, so that was very attractive to me.

Caring8000

Brookdale Plaza was nice, it was a little further and just had a lot of traffic. I was looking for something that was a little closer and it is independent living. The Brookdale was not as large but it was still big place, but it wasn’t as large as the other facility I went to in Sheridan. The staff was good, very helpful and answered all my questions.

Clarence5

I like the rooms at Brookdale because they did not have the theme of a hospital. The staff there looks after the residents very nicely. I don't have any complaints at all about the place.

Jessica19

Our visit at Kenwood at Lake was great. The building was beautiful, but it was just a bit out of our price range. The staff were great and very helpful. Their rooms were very nice. Overall, everything was wonderful and I wish we could afford it.

Caring82180250

I found Kenwood nice. I like the way they treated the patients who were there. They had a social worker, and I was impressed with that. It was very structured as far as the activities that they had for people. The staff looked to be OK. We looked at the people who were there. They looked like they were satisfied.

Barbara82655750

My husband and I both liked Kenwood, but the person who we were looking for lives in a small town, and she was not sure that she wanted to live in a high rise. I thought it would be a good choice because it was close to where we live. It looked very clean. It looked like there was a lot of activities and services for seniors: arts and crafts, there was sing-along, and ceramics. The fact that you could get your hair done there was great. We picked it because we thought she would want to bring her own furniture. The rooms were really nice. They had beautiful views of the lake.

Caring76677650

Kenwood of Lake View was more for unassisted living. So we knew it was not appropriate for what we were looking for. It seemed fine. I thought the staff was very nice. It's just more for someone that could be on their own, and that was not what we were looking for at the time. They seemed very nice and the people were very helpful and willing to share information. The rooms looked fine. I like the location.

Jere1

Kenwood was adequate. It looked like it was going to work out just fine. The staff was okay. I don't have any bad feelings about them. I was looking more of an overview and I asked a few questions. They were able to give me answers quickly and confidently. It seems like they'll take care of the residents well. It was within the budget that we were looking at. They had different rooms, but we were looking at just the studio and 1-bedroom because mother was not going to get around.

Martha26

Kenwood of Lakeview was recommended by the nursing home. The staff has been very helpful and very kind. The room is quite comfortable. There's a lot going on. They have a whole lot of organized activities, they take residents by bus to several nearby stores, and they also have a library. Most residents are in independent living.

jazimama

For me my visit at Kenwood of Lake View was very helpful. Their apartments were functional. The residents have their own individual apartments. The staff was fine. They're very supportive and friendly. The facility, however, was divided into two parts of a building and you have to go through certain floors in order to be able to go to other building if you don't have to go outside, so it's a little confusing.

Kathryn RJT

The Kenwood is an Independent and Assisted living senior community located close to Belmont Harbor, Lincoln Park and Lake Michigan, in fact the studio apartments are all on the lakeview side of the building, would that my Mother chose that instead of a one bedroom with a street view she would get to see some great sunrises and the weather fronts coming off the lake. As she has not moved in yet I cannot tell you what that is like, though I can tell you this. The staff is absolutely wonderful and have been so helpful to me through the process of touring, setting up the lease particulars, accommodating my mid month move of Mom and helping me to make this time go as smoothly as possible. Every time I have visited from the first moment I can tell you this, the staff is great the residents all interact with each other and the staff so warmly and courteously and each person I have asked (on the sly ;)) has said they love living there. One lady said she did not want to move from her condo where she was so alone and cried daily and her kids practically dragged her to The Kenwood and on the first day she decided she loved it. She is involved with other residents and the activities and has loved the change in her life as she finds it way less lonely and alienating as that condo she lived in where she could go days before passing another person to say good morning or good evening to. The folks that work there eat there and one man I know from past career history said the food is excellent. Yesterday I went there to install some premove stuff in my Mom's place and there were a bunch of residents enjoying a live music performance. Everything is close and there is a Kenwood shuttle as well as public transportation at the door and more cabs than you can wave a hand at, blocks away there are stores and a movie theater and just way too many places to visit for anyone to say they are bored though if your loved one gets involved in the activities at The Kenwood there won't be much time for all that neighborhood traipsing.

Lois9

I would give Kenwood a high rating because of its appearance and also because of all that are included with the rent. They have assisted living in case you would need that. They can also arrange for nursing and hospice care if necessary. They have contacts for all those things. I have a cancer and I don't know how much life I have left, so these features are appealing to me.

Sharon26

Kenwood of Lakeview is a big building and they have a very small space at the back with a little patio and a barbeque grill. They have studios and one-bedroom apartments. They also have a good lunch room. The staff is pretty good. They have activities. They have a computer room. They have exercise and yoga going on down there. But they don't have a lot of outdoor activities because they don't have the land for that. I would recommend them to others.

Caring201973

If you have the means to afford to live at The Kenwood, I would recommend it for people who like stodgy elegance and don't mind fuzzy living with a little pretentiousness. For one thing there seems to be a lot of rules here. For example, you can only enter from the side street, not on Sheridan Road (where there is a door and an intercom) even if you beg the person through the intercom that it is cold out. Indeed the winds can be quite chilly from the lakefront on a wintry day and a couple of times I felt that I would be blown away. Upon entering the lobby, there is either a female or male concierge -- both who speak very succinctly -- and you must sign in. And while the female concierge doesn't actually wears long white gloves, you think that she must. The lobby is spacious with chandeliers and a piano and is actually two floors, but I hardly ever see anybody in it. There is a long staircase to get to the second floor and then you need to walk in a kind of an el shape pathway to get to the elevators to the upstairs apartments. I'm sure there is an easier way, but I just don't know it. The apartments themselves are large with nice views and full- size kitchens. Nothing shabby here. I knew a woman who was over a 100 who resided in a one bedroom. She had large bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom. She was running out of funds and her family felt that the place was not helpful in terms of negotiating a lower price. Don't get me wrong, if you have the means to afford to live here, this is an upscale, highly desirable facility which is representative of the community -- I just did not find it welcoming.