The Village at Southlake

The Village at Southlake was a nice place and the facility was very good. It appeared to be a very nice facility and we liked everything, we just couldn't afford it. The rooms we saw were spacious, they had good bathrooms, and they have everything for the elderly. So the rooms were all good. They had a patio, they had a nice cafeteria and a beauty salon. It's a nice facility and it's in a nice area, it's just that it's a business, it's very expensive.

It was perfectly nice, but it wasn't appropriate for my mother. The rooms were smaller compared to the other place I went, and the colors were dark, and she doesn't do well with dark colors, but it's a very nice place. The staff was great. They only had independent care, and my mother needed assisted living services as an option. I saw three rooms there. It appeared clean and good, but the residents were not out in the common areas, so I only saw two residents out and about. They have one main building where the meals are served, exercise rooms, things like that, and have very small apartments, duplexes that are side by side units that open out to the outside, another facility that you basically have to drive to the meals, and like little individual houses. The dining area was dark, but attractive, and restaurant-style. It's best for people who can live completely independently who have a car and can drive to places.

I really like it. For the price, I could get more. I saw their model bedroom and's it's exactly what I was looking for. It comes with a dishwasher, microwave, and all the amenities as well. The price is good and it has a very apartment kind of ambiance instead of a nursing home. The place is set up more like a resort hotel. When you come in through the beautiful entrance, it feels like you're in the lobby of Gone with the Wind. The person at the desk is called a concierge. They also have a workout room, a pool, and a place and person on-hand for physical therapy if you need it.

It felt like home. I visited five different places in the area and this felt like a house. The staff could not be nicer. They learned my mom's name within two days and respectfully calling her by her first name, and my mom is starting to get involved. She is walking more than she has in years because she is excited about the different activities. She actually went on a pontoon ride on Lake Murray; she hasn’t been on a boat in years. Mom has a two-bedroom apartment with a living room/dining room/kitchen combination, and two full baths, one with a walk-in shower. One room is her bedroom and her other room is set up as her cooking room. I would definitely recommend this place. My mom is 83 years old and has never felt more independent than she does right now.

Right now, we are living in a retirement community and we can’t find anything comparable in the entire national area that offers what we have here. And everything that we find that we are interested in, the rent is virtually twice as much as what we are paying down here. The amenities are great, the cost is fabulous, and the facilities are excellent. We are in a garden home or what they call patio homes now in an independent living environment, and it is perfect. It is exactly what we were looking for. We went a 50-mile radius from Columbia about 4 ½ years ago, and we looked at a lot of places, but South Lake was the second place we went to, and we started comparing everything else we were looking at to what we saw at South Lake and finally realized that it makes no sense to live there. We found nothing wrong with it, and we have been here almost 4 years. They have inside activities like Bingo, they do movie nights, they have dances, and they sponsor school events that are going on, bringing kids in so that the kids can interact with the older folks. They also go out to plays and on boating trips on the lake. There are always activities going on; every day there is some form of activity going on. They have an excellent dining facility, although we have never eaten there, but we know a lot of people who have. They take a little bus and they go to Walmart; they take you to doctors’ appointments and various places like that. The staff is very responsive. Whenever we have a question, they get back to us very quickly and are very friendly, always stopping and chatting with us if we are standing out in the yard, so they are always there.   

We visited. It seemed more independent. They actually have like apartments there. They have a pool. However, one of the challenges that my father would have there is, he is not really able to use the pool and all the rooms that were available for him. Nevertheless, they definitely seemed to be more flexible with transportation because they own their own vehicles. They have a car that they actually can use as well. That was definitely a plus that they had. They have bingo, shopping, and live music. Amenities were nice as well. The Village at Southlake is definitely a nice community.

I regularly visit my mom here. The apartment layout and common areas are all very nice. They have friendly staff and good food and plenty of in-house activities and outings. They have options to go to different places, but internally, they do crafts and puzzles. They have entertainment come in and play bingo, but my mom does not take advantage. She prefers to watch TV and play around on the computer. My sister can pick her up and go to the doctor.

I have been living here since January 31st. I like the community because of its location, and this is a good place. The dining is good, and the food is good. The staff is friendly. Both the desk staff and the maid service are quick. We take bus trips to go shopping and to the doctors. My room is kind of a studio. It has a kitchen and a bathroom. There isn't any crime around here.