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 JANUARY 2010 By RON STANG
Reprinted with permission.
Amica Mature Lifestyles is promising to take retirement living to a whole new level when it opens its largest retirement complex in Canada in Windsor this spring.
The 11-story, 181-suite building is immediately east of the Glengarda condo complex and across the street from Reaume Park, marking a striking new development along Riverside Drive East and maintaining the upscale character of the thoroughfare.
Amica, a wholly-owned Canadian company with 21 complexes in British Columbia and Ontario, as partnered with local investor Mady Development Corp., which is also building the site. Mady also built Gates of Glengarda.
Amica spokeswoman Susan Gerard likened the facility to a "five-star hotel" and stresses this wll be for "healthy, vital seniors" who can live fully independently. "Those who really don't want to keep a house or condo any longer. They want housekeeping done and the option of going into a beautiful dinning room and have the choice of having different meals served every day."
The building will have a 24-hour concierge, an Egnlish-style pub, upscale dining room, theatre, Mackenzie Hall Library and spa with all the services someone would get on a cruise ship, she said.
There will be one floor which provides limited 24-hour support for people who might need assistance with such things as taking meds, grooming, or getting dressed. There are safeguards built into the complex such as Lifeline personal emergency response and emergency pull cords in bathrooms.
Studio suites start at $2,750 and two-bedrooms from $4,450.
Gerard said prices are set to what "the local market will bear".
She said tenants will be local people but also from throughout southern Ontario, adding Amica was partly influenced by the 100 Mile Peninsula campaign to lure retirees to Windsor-Essex. "It was certainly highly considered and it was certainly part of the decision to look at Windsor. Absolutely."
The building is being constructed on what had been a vacant lot.
Mike Dinchik, spokeman for the 100 Mile Peninsula, said Amica is exactly the type of project the campaign is trying to attract.
Amica won't be the only independent living facility in the city. Holiday Retirement has operated Kensington Court on Cabana Road West for a dozen years.
Holiday's regional sales leader Alison Bennett says the economic downturn has impacted these kinds of retirement facilities.
She said that while Kensington is holding its own, "Windsor in particular is probably the hardest hit of all locations in Ontario."
Bennett said each company has its own marketing philosophy and approach to retirement living.
"We all have unique buildings," she said. "I'm sure they have their own game plan and so do we."
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