Independent Living Communities in Buffalo, NY

"I chose Canterbury Woods Gates Circle. It was a nice small community of 60 people. I liked all the amenities. I like the location. They exercise. They have cultural programs, they have a lot of outings to art galleries and things like that. The place is perfectly clean, constantly updated, and it's a beautiful place. The staff could have been better in terms of pointing everything out to me. I met some of the other owners there and it was delightful. I tried the food and it's delicious."

"Timon Towers Apartments is a modern high-rise located in a very nice neighborhood. The apartments are a little bit on the small side. It has a kitchenette with an oven range and a refrigerator. It is a busy place with a lot of medical personnel coming and going all the time. It has outdoor parking. The place is clean and very well managed, given the fact that it is a busy place. There are common areas and they are quite large, but there's nobody there. The books on the bookshelf looked like they had been there for years and years. The staff who gave me the tour was very professional and was able to answer every question I had."

"We went to the Symphony Circle Active Living. That would be my number one choice. What I liked most were the services that they offer, the menu, and the cleanliness. I saw a one-bedroom that would be perfect for me. It was very clean. A lot of activities, arts and crafts, and a movie theater. The security is fine. The outdoor space was nice. They had a big variety in the menu, you don't have to eat at a certain time, their meals are spaced. They had three different cafeterias or dining areas. I liked the fact that you had options. If what they were serving was something that you didn't want, you had other options where you could get soup, or salad or they just had a big variety, for example, the day that I was there, they were having a pig roast."

"Mary Agnes Manor was excellent and they have very, very good people. They treat us like family, they make us feel welcome and comfortable, and we like that. When we dropped my grandmother off, it was a good feeling. They make you feel like family. The rooms have a beautiful view, and they're relaxing and safe. From my point of view, they're very good. Everybody says the staff treats you like family and they're pretty good. They have movies once in a while, they play bingo, they exercise, and they do puzzles. They have pretty good activities. The community's layout is good. It's next to the lake. Value for the money is reasonable."

"I liked Williamstowne Village Senior Apartments because they don't have any kind of restriction on what you make. The other ones that I looked at all had restrictions. I could only make a certain amount of money. The last one I went to, I made more than what their restriction was, so I couldn't go there. This one doesn't have any restrictions. The apartments were very roomy. There are one or two bedrooms, they're compact but they're roomy, they're very well kept, and the grounds are taken care of very well. They have a heated in-ground pool, 9-hole mini-golf course, beauty salon, a community center, a lunch program Mondays through Fridays, hiking and walking trails, horseshoes, picnic grounds, fish pond, and outdoor sitting areas. They have on-site activities, holiday dinners, bingo, and card games, exercise classes, mass and Bible study, birthday celebrations, summer barbecue and luaus, and breakfast and coffee socials. They also have offsite trips like Canalside boat trips, casino, buffalo zoo sightseeing, botanical gardens, downtown attractions, and popular restaurants. They've got quite a bit of things to do. If I go there, I'm going to be in the same basic community so I don't have to change where I go grocery shopping. I don't have to change my prescriptions and where I'm getting them. I can go to the same places. For the meals, they have a calendar for the residents with what they are going to be serving all month long."

"I'm staying at the Brighton Square Senior Apartments in Tonawanda. It's an independent living apartment and it's close to home. It's just very convenient. If you need anything done, there's always help available. The staff is very nice and very cooperative. I make my own meals. There are handrails all over the place, inside and outside of your apartment. There's a salon and a courtyard. The bathroom is handicapped-accessible too. The shower is just a complete walk-in and flat with the floor. The upkeep is excellent. My family doctor is just down the road and I'm close to shopping if I need it so it's just a really good central place to be."

"I toured Mount St. Mary's Senior Residence and I find it clean and well-run. It is an older building, but it has charm. I saw a 1-bedroom apartment about 600 to 650 square feet which are quite large, and it is sufficient for one person. It has a kitchenette with an oven range and a refrigerator. It is a beautiful building, it's a converted convent. But the parking lot out back is sort of crowded. It didn't have a nice view from the back, but from the front and the sides, it's got a lovely view. The staff is very responsive, and I find it to be a very friendly place. I like it because of its historic look both inside and out. It has a chapel, which I like. It is also a very quiet place."

"I chose Maryvale East Senior Apartments for my dad because the apartment is just the right size. It is on the ground floor with one bedroom, a very nice sized kitchen, and a huge bathroom. They also have a satellite disk, which is included for the first three months that he is there for free. They have package deals that the person can choose from that will suit their budgets. The electric bill is also included in their rent. It is in a very clean building in a big complex, which is essentially located near everything that he needs like shopping and doctor's offices. They have activities like bowling and bingo. They have trips to the casino, the farmer's market, and the town's park. They have movie days. The management is very friendly and attentive to the client's need. Any time a resident needs help, all they have to do is call. The maintenance guy is on-call 24/7. They also have a number for them to call in case of emergency. The other seniors are very friendly. I felt so comfortable that my dad is there. During our visit before my Dad moved there, he went inside the seniors' room and introduced himself, making friends with the people there. He is happy there and I recommend it to others. "

"I was a resident of Meyer Pointe Senior Apartments. It was okay. There was a change in management and that's when I got a little turned off with it because the new manager was so rigid. He didn't talk to people and the office was closed a lot. Whereas the first manager was very courteous, open-minded, and pleasant. My sister was living with me at that time. It was enjoyable, and even though I didn't partake in a lot of the extracurricular activities, my sister did. It was nice and secure. Our visitors have to buzz to be let in. We had a washer and dryer in our apartment and two full bathrooms. The square footage could have been a little bit bigger. The price started going up and up. With me being in and out of the hospital as much as I was, and my sister being as elderly as she was, my son didn't necessarily have the time to go in and help reorganize my bedroom. So some of the deliveries I would get just ended up in the living room. So, it made it a little cluttered, and that's why we were asked to leave because it was cluttered. It is starting to be more trouble than it's worth. The residents that lived there were very nice, and if we called for maintenance to fix something, they came easily within the day. We were on the ground floor, and for a while there, we were plagued with ants. We had to be very careful with ants, and it was a relatively new building."

"Crestmount looked wonderful. The visit was perfect. They were very nice. They took me to one of the apartments which they had already completed, and I loved it. I was on a waiting list, and I would be moving in on Thursday. They had an exercise room, and it was beautiful. They had a library and a community room."

"Saint Timothy Park Villa overlooks rolling fields and hills for about a mile, so the views are very nice and the lights are nice. It is a relatively modern facility, long and low. It is not a very large facility, and I find it to be a satisfactory place to live. It has a small church nearby which would be nice for Catholics to be able to just walk to church whenever they want to. The staff who gave me the tour was very well-informed and very helpful."

"Presbyterian Village at North Church was very nice and would be very nice for normal senior people, but my brother is mentally handicapped and needs a little bit more supervision and security. As far as for shopping, it was very convenient. I think it was a little bit more geared for elderly couples. The apartments available were like normal apartments with kitchens. The staff was fantastic. It was a little bit more reasonably priced than the other facility I saw. "

"Seneca Pointe Senior Apartments were lovely. They had more open floor plans and they were newer than the other place. They were very nice. The staff was wonderful. They interacted very well with all their clients. They were great. I looked at their two bedrooms, but they had one bedroom, too. In terms of activities, they have shopping a couple of times a week and they have bingo, yoga classes, and exercise classes for the seniors. While we were there, they were exercising in the activities room."

"Ashbury Pointe was very nice. The apartments were a good size, the staff was very friendly, and the food was excellent. The activities were just like everybody else's, and they've got a bus that will take you shopping if you have to go. They have nice underground parking, so you can keep your car out of the weather. It was a nice, very well-kept facility. "