The Best Independent Living Communities in Erie County, NY

"I used to live in Williamstowne Senior Apartments. It was a pleasant environment. They had activities for seniors. My only negative was that we were able to get a lower floor, so we had to go walk up to the second floor. But outside of that, we felt it was a decent place to live. They had a community room, a pool table, a dartboard, bingo, and singing. They had people come in and sing. Sometime on Friday and Saturday they brought in fruits, bread, and vegetables. They also offer trips to local supermarkets. The staff was helpful. I had no issues with the staff at all."

"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."

"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 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."

"I went to Symphony Circle Active Living. It's fairly new, but I don't want to live in Buffalo. The rooms were fine. They looked good and clean, but I thought $4000 a month was a little bit steep for me. I didn't try their food because I hear that you don't have to cook there. All the food is prepared for you. They have a couple of selections that you can choose from, so I'm pretty sure that's nice. The staff was fine. I saw this cleaning lady, and they made good remarks about her. Apparently, everything is very fine there from what I hear. It's just expensive, a little more than I want to spend for me and my daughter. It seemed nice but I wasn't completely satisfied with it. Everything looked great to me from what the woman showed me. It's a year old, so everything is still new. There's parking underneath the apartments which is included in $4000. I think that's ideal because you don't have to go out of the building. If you're on the first or second floor, you just go up the elevator. It's really nice with the parking on the ground. If people can afford it, they probably would take that if they like living in a city. Everything is done for you. They take the trash, and they clean up your room once a week. They have their own laundry facility. If you want to wash, you can do your laundry there. It's fairly nice. The people were nice. Because I had already made an arrangement to come in, they knew I was coming in. They are very careful about who they let in; you just can't walk in off the street. I had a hard time trying to find where the entrance was, but other than that, it was fine. You might have to mask yourself, they buzz you in, you go to the receptionist, and they check your temperature to make sure you don't have a fever. They said it's free of Covid19 and that nobody has it, so they want to make sure nobody gets it by you coming in there. They're very protective. I like that about it. The place is very clean, too."

"Mary Agnes Manor is what I was looking for. It is centrally located and easy for me to get to here and the city. They have a private room and do not have to share a bathroom. There are plenty of activities and little stores where my mother can go and purchase things she needs. They have a dining room and a breakfast area, and a choice to eat either breakfast or dinner. They also have a solarium with a view of the lake. It was very nice. They had everything that I was looking for. They take them to their doctors’ appointments. Everyone that I met was friendly and 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."

"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 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."

"My apartment here at StoneGate of Clarence is large. I have a garage attached. There's a clubhouse. There are donuts every Wednesday. There's breakfast every Friday. There's an exercise room and a game room. The food is OK."

"My friend was a resident at Brompton Heights. The people were very personable and very friendly. A bunch of us had set up a luncheon for her, and they provided us with a separate room. They provided us with lunch, and we took a cake (or they provided it). We knew she was leaving, and it was kind of a farewell. They did a wonderful job. They really did. I wasn't happy with her room. She was in like in a semi-private, but that was her finances. It was kind of sparse, but she was packing to leave. Where we were was like a main atrium; it was a huge room for people to socialize and visit. We didn't eat in the main dining room because they put us in a separate little room, which was nice. The main dining room looked very lovely. It was warm, and the people seemed to be socializing. They seemed happy to be there. It was very, very nice and very comfortable for the people."

"The Belvedere is a wonderful place. It's very well furnished in the community areas. The apartments are very nice and nice size. I came from a home, so it's smaller than I wanted. They have a monthly published activities calendar and it's quite full. There's a lot for various interests and then there's group community things going on here. It's a nice bunch of people and they are very helpful. Whatever questions you have or concerns, they take care of it right away. They do not offer any meals or housekeeping. It's an independent selection, but my husband gets Meals on Wheels. There are quite a few activities. There's bingo, cards, happy hour, and resident-organized outside activities like a men's luncheon or a women's luncheon. Whatever group is going, the other group has a brown bag lunch. They offer a fitness center and that's it."

"It was nice. The staff I met was very helpful and had a lot of pamphlets ready. The rooms were brand new and nice. They had two meals prepared for the residents and a bulletin board with stuff to do. I'd recommend them since they have everything in the apartment, like a washer and dryer."