The Best Independent Living Communities in Monroe County, NY

"Brickstone at St Johns is very nice. It's a smaller community. They're more intimate. They're more of a family-oriented community as opposed to a facility that is high rise and has 100 or more persons living in their apartments. Each apartment is differently designed. Some of them are two bedrooms, and some of them are three-bedroom-two baths. They also have single-family villas with fireplaces and things like that. It's a completely different environment. They have more of the apartment living concept and they also have a single villa, which is first-floor single ranch-style living. The staff is very nice. They're very professional and very attentive. It's more on a very close-knit family orientation between the residents and the staff."

"St. John's Meadows was nice. It was hard to learn your way around, but they had a pool and a woodshop, which were great. We had a meal there, and it was good. It was an ala carte thing. I had grilled cheese."

"Valley Manor is excellent. Our friends live there, and they're very happy, and that's why we looked there. It has different sizes of apartments that one can go into and that was a good thing for us because we'd like something a little larger when we're ready. We particularly liked the three-bedroom ones, and we liked that it's still within the community we have lived in for 40 years. We like that it's accessible to lots of cultural things and it's very walkable. It's an older facility, and yet they've done a nice job of keeping things in good repair and doing upgrades on balconies and such things. I liked that it has balconies that you can open up to the outside. You can be outside without leaving your private space. The staff was incredible. They were so good at remembering names and at highlighting the residents' accomplishments. One of the people I know from my church lives there. He just turned 90 and they did a big acknowledgment of him at the Eastman Theater and lots of the residents came to acknowledge him as well. I'm sure there were a lot of people who work there that were there, but one of them who was involved in admissions recognized me, knew my name, and I didn't even remember her name. I remembered her, but not her name. They are extremely good at meeting the needs of the residents and seeing the residents as complete people, including their past and their past accomplishments in their life, which I think is valuable when one is older and maybe not as capable. We have eaten there a couple of times and it's just fine. It's not outstanding, but it's been the pandemic, so it's been very hard to hire people. It has very thick concrete walls, so it's very quiet and it's easy to regulate the temperature in one's apartment. All the rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows or sliding doors out to balconies, so they're light and airy and pleasant to be in the apartments. The general area is very nice, too. The people there seemed very happy."

"Seneca Towers is fine and I like the privacy they offer. However, before I moved in, I told them I don't want a place over sixth floor because that's the limit of the fire department ladder, but still they put me on the 20th floor. Their elevators are small and it would take 10 minutes to go 20 floors. I have to do my laundry at 4:30 in the morning because that is the only time I can make use of the elevator. It is during this time that there were less people using it. The neighborhood surrounding Seneca Towers is terrible. It is almost like an inner city environment. I'm not happy with it at all. "

"Tessa was a wonderful tour guide. My father & I enjoyed our visit. Your facility is beautiful & very clean!"

"I first visited St. Ann's Community at Chapel Oaks with a friend of mine who was also looking to move in there. I liked it a lot. What I really liked was the choice of floor plans for the apartments. I saw the whole facility. One thing that they had that the other community did not have was an indoor pool. I do water aerobics, so that was a factor for me. The woman who showed me around was very informative. She answered all my questions. She showed me all the amenities and a couple of apartments with different floor plans. The place was very clean and very inviting. I also liked their kitchens more. They were all stainless and much nicer."

"Legacy at Cranberry Landing was small. Everybody was wonderful when we met. The apartments were very nice. They offered outdoor access for my cat. Everyone that we met was very pleasant and they called me back to check how I was doing. They do not serve lunch. They serve breakfast and dinner. It was perfectly clean. You would have no problem moving into any of the available units. They had a movie night. They would clean your apartment. They had a pool table. They had a library. They had a movie room where they would show movies. They had card tables and puzzle tables that you and other people could go to, work in, play cards, or play other games, whatever you wanted to do."

"I chose Linden Knoll because it had quite a few of the things I was looking for. Everybody seems very friendly. It's very clean and well lit. The floor plan is contained. It's not a lot of space, but it's cozy, and I think it's going to be all I need to be comfortable. The staff was very informative and willing to answer any questions."

"Cloverwood Senior Living's apartments are very upscale. The place is luxurious, beautiful, and well-decorated. They have a common room, a game room, and an eating area. The library that they have there is beautiful. I would go there in a minute if I could. All of that was nice. It's like a classy hotel. My friend lives in Cloverwood. They have an outdoor space, but I only saw it through a window, I didn't go out there."

"We will be moving into The Addison of Park Crescent. I liked all the amenities, features, and services available. I'm going to be bringing in my own home care. They had multiple restaurants, a coffee shop, activities, a hair and nail salon, a barbershop, a chapel, and arts and crafts. The staff was wonderful."

"The Village at Unity & The Hamlet was outstanding, but it's very big. It seems somewhat overwhelming to my husband. They offered everything. It's newer, glitzier, and fancier than the other place. They had wi-fi, bowling, and a movie theater. The staff did a great job showing us the room. They have multiple restaurants there. The dining hall was very inviting."

"The Legacy at Village Wood is reasonable as far as pricing and what they include. They do what is called the “I’m OK” program. So even though it is independent, every morning when they wake up they have to put what looks like a little hotel peg on their door that said I’m OK, so they know that they made it through the night. They’ve got a call button that they wear around their neck, so for some reason if they were to fall or have an issue, they can push the button and someone will respond. There are some meals and some utilities that are included in the rent. They have a shuttle that makes a trip to the grocery store once a week, so if my mother-in-law doesn’t feel like she can drive her own vehicle like in the winter, then she can still get to Whitman and get to the pharmacy to get her prescription. They try to do some activities for the residents like social outings. So for the money and with what they are offering, it is still better than her being alone. The staff was really knowledgeable and friendly. They were extremely knowledgeable, and a lot of times they seem to be a little more on the ball as far as having the information before I even had to ask them. As far as floor plan size, it is definitely more apartment type even though it is still a studio. "

"The people here at Beatrice Place are extremely nice. They have a lot of activities. They give you a monthly calendar, which I have. This Friday at 5:00, they will have a potluck dinner where you're supposed to bring food to share. If you have a doctor's appointment, you have to give them ample time to set it up so that someone can take you. They provide internet, TV service, and Wi-Fi. They have an in-unit washer-dryer combo, which they had to replace mine because it wasn't working. There's a lot of stuff that they do. The people are very friendly and very nice. Their maintenance man is a sweetheart. The day I moved in, he helped me move a lot of things into the apartment because at the time, I was renting a car, and I was going back and forth to the house I had just sold. The place is beautiful. Because I'm a new resident, they're giving me a meal for nothing in about a week or two because they showed me the menu, and most of the stuff came with pasta and I eat gluten-free so I couldn't order anything that had pasta, but once a week you can order stuff yourself. They also have an exercise room. The one woman who's up in the front office there is Julie, and she is a very nice lady. Today, they do chair yoga, and then at 1:00, they have cardio drumming. They were doing that the day I moved in and it looked very interesting. At 3:15, they do the rosary at the chapel. They do pool at 1:00 on Thursdays and they do Pokeno on Wednesdays. They have a knitting club and the new residents would get a free hand-knitted lap blanket. It's like a two-tone green and that's one of my favorite colors. They have four things going on in a day. They have a shuffleboard right outside my room, too."

"I really like Highlands. I have been up there twice, and it happened to meet my needs. It is a buy-in community with three levels of care. You can get a one- or two-bedroom apartment with a den or a small kitchen, or cottage with a living room, kitchen, and a washer and dryer. The staff was very friendly, and the people were very nice. They really have a lot of facilities like a pool, work-out room and a library. They had a concert that day and took me around to show me the different places to eat. "