The Pillars of Prospect Park

Eunice

The Pillars of Prospect Park was great. I will rate them 5 all the way. I was there for two hours. I didn't eat though. You enter this big lobby and down the hall is like a fine dining room and up on the roof is a lounging area. They have all kinds of games upstairs and party rooms. They have a cafeteria where the people eat and it was great. The memory care people were on the second floor, so they were secured, but it was nice. They had big fabulous rooms. They collaborate with the University of Minnesota with different stuff. The staff was great. I didn't see any activity but they had it posted, and we got a flyer with the things that they do. It's a big building. The tour guide showed us the whole building. I saw them serving some people in their dining hall, but we didn't eat anything. They had these beautiful chafing dishes, but these must be the assisted living people. They had a beauty salon.

Lilly

I have chosen The Pillars of Prospect Park. It's by far the outstanding one that I visited. It far surpassed the others. I think it will meet my needs the best of any of the places. It's in close connection with the University of Minnesota Alumni Association. It's close to the campus, and I'm a life member of the Alumni Association. They have groups come in like the members of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, and lectures from university professors. They just have an outstanding program, and very stimulating. I think it's really good. My first impression was that it was a very welcoming place. They have a large reception area, very welcoming, and very comfortable. They had a lovely sign there that said "Welcome," which was very nice, and then the person that guided me around took me to all the community rooms. They have a lovely library, a wonderful dining area, an exercise room filled with modern up-to-date equipment, because it is only like about a year and a half old, a craft room, and a nice, underground parking area where you can have your bike and stuff like that. She told me about all their community activities. They participate in a community garden about a block away. They have a biking group, a hiking group, and a couple book groups. They have happy hour, every afternoon, Monday through Friday. They have a beautiful atrium on the top level, and that leads out to a large deck where they have lovely plants, and several firepits, and tables and chairs so that you could have smores out there or hot dogs. They have a room where they show movies several times a week, and where they would have their guest entertainment come in, their lecturers, or musical groups, or whoever. You can go from independent living to assisted living in your same apartment. They also have an Alzheimer's unit in part of the building, and they have a nursery for children. As the COVID guidelines are loosened, there will be more interaction among the residents and the small children. The residents can participate by reading stories, or rocking babies, or playing with children one-on-one, and they have a nice little play yard for the children, and you can look down from the apartment and see the children play. They have a wonderful Fresh Thyme supermarket right across the street, and they're close to the University Avenue as far as if one wanted to catch the train or anything. It's within walking distance from several places on campus, including the football stadium and places like that. I have a two-bedroom apartment with a little balcony, and I'm quite pleased. The two-bedroom apartments have two bathrooms. All the apartments have a washer and dryer in the apartment. No one has lived in the apartment that I'm going to be moving into because it's a new facility, and with COVID and everything, they didn't fill it up as rapidly as they planned to. The apartment is very comfortably arranged. There's a bathroom off the master bedroom, and another bathroom where you have to go through the walk-in closet sort of area to get to that, and that bathroom also opens from the main entry into the apartment so that it's handy for guests. Their dining area was very pleasant appearing. I did not have a meal there. They had a lot of tables for four or six, and a few tables for two, and it seemed very inviting, like going to a restaurant. I had some question about my iPhone, and the person at the reception desk said, "When you're done, I can help you with that." She said, "I love to help people with iPhone issues," and so she did. She was very friendly. It's very nicely done.