Founders Ridge

Founders Ridge is a very, very nice facility with lots of activities. The people we met were fantastic. It just seemed like a younger community, and my mother is 90. The people that we met, the people that we walked us around, and the apartments, were top notch. The whole facility was phenomenal. The only reason we didn't go with it was because it seemed like a younger population than somebody in the 90s like my mom. Health insurance wasn't included in the monthly rent, but heat and gas is included, electric is included, water, sewer or trash, cable television, telephone, WiFi, and breakfast seven days a week, also lawn care and snow removal, repairs and maintenance, wellness and fitness, and window washing of the exterior walls are included.

My tour at Founders Ridge was very good. The staff was fantastic. They were really good. The apartments were lovely; however, you have to buy into that, so that was the disadvantage with that place. It is in an excellent location. The grounds were lovely. I could not afford the unit that I wanted. The minimum you have to put in is like $52,000 for just a very small unit. They have a community room, a dining room, an exercise room, a theater, and a walking path around the unit. They provide continental breakfast, too. They have all the amenities that a person would want. They also have space for a garden that you could get, which is very nice.

Founders Ridge is a relatively new Presbyterian home group; there are quite a few here. We were interested in what they call Brownstones. They're large apartments, but there's not many of them. It's just two floors and there are only ten to 12 units in a building. The ones we were looking at were brand new, and were just finished in December, so they have a lot of open units yet, which is the reason why we wanted to look at the place rather than being on a list for two years. We went out there and this very nice young lady named Dawn, who happened to go to school with my son, took us through the main building first. They have their dining room there, they have a large and smaller one. They have a big club room, a library, a salon, a movie theater, a large entertainment room with a nice grand piano all on the first floor. It's just very pleasant, with very high ceilings. They also have an exercise room with gym equipment, they have maybe 20 machines in there. They have a room, which they call the exercise room, where they do some yoga. We've just loosened up on our COVID rules, but they're in a very restricted area, so everybody has to wear a mask. You have to sign in and they take your temperature when you go in. They're very careful. It's very clean and very nice. We went upstairs as well and they had more kinds of common areas there. It's quite large, they have an assisted living area, and a memory care unit, but we did not go there. They have some individual apartment units in a three-story building, and they all have underground parking. They also have a pond there in the center. It's all laid out nicely. The unit that we saw was brand new, nobody has been in it yet. It has two bedrooms, a den, a sunroom, and a patio. It's a first floor unit, and it's their biggest unit, it's actually 1,700 square feet. You can get an indoor underground garage if you wish. It is extra, but the basic cost of the unit includes all of the utilities, and many other amenities. You also get breakfast. You have to go over to the main building to get it, but they also have them available at all facilities in their main building. In this building we saw there are lots of windows. These are end units, so it was very nice, and with all brand-new appliances. The staff members we were with, Dawn, answered all of our questions. We sat in her office first and talked about the financial arrangements that they have there, including the entrance fee and how that applies. She was just very good. This was the first opportunity we got to get in and see anything, so my wife was very impressed with the place because it's brand new and all the appliances were first-rate. They even have a full-size washer and dryer in each room, which is unusual, because sometimes these places have smaller units. The unit also had two bathrooms, and an en suite for the main bedroom. It has lots of closet spaces and lots of light with it being an end unit. The way it was designed, if you look at the floor plan, it's like a rectangle with two jutting areas on each end. It kind of sticks out, and one of those is the sunroom. The view there is just amazing, no matter which way you look. The Brownstone buildings are separate, and there are two of them. The apartment buildings are much larger and the construction is all done, except for landscaping. They were gonna get at that as soon as the weather becomes warmer. It's so clean being brand new.